The Dragon Chronicles: Hidden Shadows
by Fenghuang0296
Summary: Spyro has enough on his plate as is. Guarding the Cloudbreak Volcano from Kaos, dealing with his love life and keeping an eye on a rookie into the bargain, even a purple dragon of legend can only take so much. But upon accidentally stumbling on one of the illustrious hero group of Skylands' biggest and darkest secrets, who could just stand by?
1. Purple Dragon

Chapter 1: Purple Dragon

 **Greetings, my loyal (hopefully) fanbase. After much debilitation, I have decided that the original version of First Portal isn't really worth continuing. I will leave it up, and I will also post the unfinished sixty-first and final chapter, but other than that, I am redoing the entire thing from scratch. Don't feel like you can get spoilers, though. Looking back, the original First Portal was rushed, overcomplicated, and keeping the plotline straight was like juggling eight balls simultaneously. So I'm wiping the story clean. Ish. Some designs will be retained. I'm going to leave what exists of the original DC and it's spin-offs online, and I will sometimes use the originals as source material. (Honestly, this decision was partially inspired by something going wrong with my device and me losing everything I'd written for A Technical Tail) But other than that, you know nothing.**

 **Please note, this is set originally at around the start of Swap Force, and AU from there, but elements (by which I mean stuff) from all games will be involved. And I fully intend it to be swaptastic. (Couldn't resist - XD)**

 **Also, it is with deep regret I say that this one will be focused mostly around Spyro. Looking back, the inclusion of Tails was essentially an overpowered author self-insert that, had I been more experienced, I never would have done. I am retaining some OCs - most notably Loni and Shadeblazer, but others will appear - from my older fiction, but I am attempting to focus mostly around canon Skylanders characters.**

 **I think that's it. Enjoy!**

 **A/N**

 **A/N**

A soft blue fire waved in the darkness of my temporary shelter. Dirt-encrusted eyes slid open, locking onto the sight of daylight at the cave's mouth. "Go time," I hissed, revelling in the flickering flames near my back.

I had been waiting things out. This was my first mission as leader of my team. I was going to do it perfectly. The low, steady hiss of the flames waving inches away from me was music to my ears.

My name? Nu-uh, that's classified. Who am I? I had been chosen by Master Eon as a Skylander. But not just any Skylander. I was the first of a new breed. A whole new batch of cookies. In that moment, I wasn't just a Skylander. I was a -

X

Spyro growled in frustration. The purple dragon had come across this scrap of parchment, falling out of a small book, that looked as though it had been torn out of something much vaster. But that was all it said. The way it was written, it seemed like part of some past Skylander's mission log. Not every Skylander kept a log, but some liked to do it to keep track of their achievements. Obviously this had been written by one of those.

"Maybe Hugo will know what to make of this," Spyro mused, carefully picking up the delicate parchment in his jaws and carrying it towards the nearest library portal.

In a flash of light, the purple dragon warped back to the library's front desk. "Ay. 'Ugo," Spyro hissed through the paper in his mouth, trying to get the Mabu's attention. The short, badger-like Mabu in his thick green hoodie and spectacles, who, predictably, was buried in a book.

Pulling the parchment from his teeth, Spyro slammed his claw down on the little, silver bell that adorned Hugo's librarian's desk.

It was large and wooden, starting near the door and curving away until it met the wall, fencing off a private quarter-circle shape exclusively for Hugo. It was marked by a thick wooden desk, mostly piled high with Hugo's favourite books. On the back wall, at right angles to the door, was a large, framed portrait of Master Eon from when he still had his body.

The bell Spyro had rung was specially designed to be heard all over the library. As a direct result, Hugo's eyes shot open at the unexpected sound of the obscenely loud bell. "Wha - what's going on? Are we under attack? Is Kaos going to destroy the Core of Light again?! Hugo panicked in shock, which rapidly turned to hysteria.

Spyro rolled his eyes. "Relax, Hugo, it's just me," He reared upwards and placed the slip of parchment on the desk, sliding it towards Hugo. "Do you know what this is from?" the purple dragon questioned, seeing Hugo rapidly scan the damaged slip. "That's strange. The actual writing's not that unusual, typical Skylander log stuff. Except the part about the writer's own name being classified, that's definitely off. It's the paper that intrigues me. It's not old. Less than twenty years. This kind of damage doesn't happen to good-quality parchment like this that quickly. And look at the edges?" he squinted, waving it at the dragon. Spyro jumped upwards and placed his forelegs on the table, getting up close. "See how it's all frayed? That does make it look like it just decayed, but the edges are too straight. If I had to guess, Spyro, I'd say that this is a piece of some paper that someone deliberately tried to destroy and then tried to pass off as damage caused by the ravages of time. The question is, why would anyone want to do something like that to a Skylander's personal logs?" Hugo explained, deep in thought.

Spyro was about to say something, but Hugo interrupted him, probably without even realising. "And the writing itself, every single Skylander who ever kept a log's logs end up in here. At least a copy of them do. But I've never seen this particular couple of paragraphs before. It doesn't make sense. I know every word that's ever entered or left this library, but this is my first time seeing these. And who would say that their own name was classified in their own journal?" Hugo frowned, not even registering that Spyro still had his mouth open to speak.

When it became obvious that Hugo wasn't going to continue, Soyro broached his own idea. "Would Chop Chop know? He was one of the first Skylanders - odds are he's met every single Skylander in history. He might know what this is about,"

"Yes, perhaps. I'm going to take a look through the archives, see if I can match up the handwriting. I do not like it when there's something in my library that I don't know about,"

Hugo passed the slip of damaged parchment back to Spyro, and turned away, already lost in thought. Spyro shrugged and padded out the door, ascending the stairs to the surface of the Palace of Light.

X

Spyro smiled at the feeling of the sunlight on the orange scales of his wings. He was a purple dragon with an orange underbelly, tail, claws and two large matching horns, as well as a row of spines with the same colour. The rest of his body was featureless purple scales, and his face wss oddly flat for a dragon, with little muzzle to speak of.

"Hey, Trig?" Spyro asked, spotting the gremlin. "You seen Chop Chop?"

"Nope. Why?" the gremlin asked. "I'm trying to work out who this . . . . . what are you doing?"

The orange gremlin was tightening a bolt on some kind of strange framework. It was big and metal and streamlined, like some kind of high-speed Arkeyan jet, but it had wheels on the bottom and no wings. "I'm building a car!" Trigger Happy enthusiastically responded. "A what?"

"It's the Earth equivalent of a balloon. Like a cart that pushes itself forwards, a bit like Drill Sergeant but bigger and with more wheels and not alive, all you have to do is steer. Andyou can put guns and missile launchers on it and make it go really fast!" Trigger Happy excitedly squealed. Spyro wasn't convinced. "Just imagine it. Bad guys are robbing a bank, setting fire to the town. Then I drive in. Boom! Boom! Bangbangbang! Howdya like getting blown up by my super-awesome car, bad guys? I'm gonna drive those bad guys crazy! Yehahahahahaha!"

"Yeah," Spyro uncertainly whistled through his teeth. "Lemme get back to you on that,"

As he left the Tech elemental workshop, he shook his head. "Looks like Trig really has been driven crazy," Spyro chuckled at his reuse of Trigger Happy's pun, then continued muttering to himself. "Whoever heard of Skylanders driving vehicles?"

X

"Hey Cali," Spyro nodded to the Mabu as they passed each other. "Have you seen Chop Chop anywhere around?"

"Nope, sorry Spyro. You seen Drobot?"

Spyro cocked his head. "Nooo, why Drobot?"

Cali put her hands on her hips and cocked a brow. "Why Chop Chop?"

Spyro showed her the damaged parchment. "I think he might know who wrote this," he commented. "Hey, you've met a lot of Skylanders throughout your run as trainer, right? Ul you know who wrote this?"

Cali squinted at the parchment. "Style kinda reminds me of someone I taught once," Spyro's eyes widened, hopeful. "Little guy calling himself Snap Shot. That croc was the second best shot with a bow and arrow I've ever seen," Cali chuckled at the memory. "Flameslinger being the best," she added. "But that was twenty years ago. He retired early, year or two before you joined. Sometimes I wonder what happened to him,"

"So you think this is his?" Spyro questioned, but Cali shook her furred head no. "Can't have been. That talk of 'revelling in the flames near his back'? Snap Shot was a water element. Can't have been him. Sorry, got nothing," she shook her head. "Oh well. See ya!" Spyro nodded, taking the piece of paper back and dashing off.

Cali carefully maintained her smile until she was sure the dragon was gone, then she let the mask slip, her eyes widening in worry. "Where in the sands of the Golden Desert did he find that? Every last word about _that guy_ were supposed to have been destroyed, he was supposed to have been totally wiped from the public history of the Skylanders. Flynn can wait, I've gotta call this in," she muttered in shock, dashing off.

X

"Hey, Spyro," Terrafin gave the dragon the 'peace' hand symbol. "Wassup, toothy?" Spyro joked, and Terrafin laughed. He was a large, muscular, anthropomorphic shark with no tail and dozens of red legions on his back, a permanent memento of his days in the underground boxing leagues before joining the Skylanders.

"What brings you down here?" he asked. "Have you seen Chop Chop anywhere? I wanna know if he recognises this," Spyro showed the Dirt Shark the fragment of paper. "Neat keepsake," Terrafin nodded. "I'm guessing you didn't do this - like Spyro the Purple Future Librarian," Terrafin guffawed at this, while Spyro glared at him, "would ever hurt a book."

Terrafin shrugged. "Eh, I got nothing better to do, and I think I know where to find everyone's favourite robot skeleton. Follow me," The Dirt Shart pulled himself to his feet, snatched up his trademark knuckledusters, passed Spyro back the slip of paper and purposefully strode off. Spyro followed him.

X

"So this is where Chop Chop lives," Spyro filed away the information as he and Terrafin approached a steel bunker hidden within a forest island that neighboured the Palace of Light. One-storey, rectangular, low, easy to miss and probably indestructible, it definitely matched Chop Chop's tastes. "You never been here? Sadly, that don't surprise me. Old bony's always been way too secretive for his own good," Terrafin snorted, rapping, loudly, on the door. "Do not come in," Chop Chop's low, gravelly voice instructed them. "Like hell I won't," Terrafin growled, putting his reinforced knuckledusters on.

Spyro instantly realised his intentions. "I don't think that's a good idea," he cautioned the incensed dirt shark, but Terrafin had already strapped on the bronze claws. "BOO-YEAH!" the shark shouted in anger, delivering a crushing, two-fisted blow to the door. The door buckled, a deep dent appearing in it but it withheld it's integrity. Terrafin, after taking a second to make sure that his knuckledusters were undamaged, which they were, prepared himself for a second blow, but the door swung open before he could deliver, with a stern-looking Chop Chop behind it.

"Why is it that every time you come here, I end up purchasing a new door?" the skeleton rhetorically questioned. "Hello, Spyro. What brings you here?" the robot politely added at the sight of the purple dragon.

Chop Chop was a skeleton, magically animated by the Arkeyans more than ten thousand years ago and trained as a soldier. His gear told the same story, wearing thin blue shoulder plates and breastplate, as well as metal boots and gloves, not to mention perpetually carrying his twin scimitars and enchanted shield. Chop Chop had been one of the first Skylanders to join the at-the-time-budding peacekeeping group ten thousand years ago, and due to his inability to age and die of natural causes, and his great skill preventing him from ever being killed by an opponent in battle, meant he had lived through almost everything that had ever happened to the Skylanders, and he never forgot anything.

"Well, maybe you should actually open ya door when someone knocks!" Terrafin exclaimed, irritated at the skeleton. "And maybe you should learn that some people find that certain other people aren't the sort of people you want to open your front door to," Chop Chop critically patronised the dirt shark, before turning to Spyro. "Unlike him, I presume that you have a reason for coming here, sir," Chop Chop nodded in respect, and Spyro gulped. Technically, he was the leader of the Skylanders, even though no one really thought of him that way. Yet Chop Chop insisted on calling him, and all the other figures of importance in the Skylander ranks, sir.

Spyro gave the skeleton the piece of paper he had found. "Do you know who wrote this?"

Chop Chop quickly scanned the paper, and even though nothing was visible brhind his helmet, Spyro sensed a change in the Arkeyan's gaze. "You should forget you ever saw this," Chop Chop declared, and closed the damaged door in the other two Skylanders' faces.


	2. Bigger Problems

Ch. 2: Bigger Problems

"Sir?" Cali spoke into an ancient Arkeyan communicator. A few seconds later, background noise began as a connection was established. "Cali? What are you doing? Why are you calling me directly? This had better be important," a wizened-sounding voice of an elderly male echoed through the speaker. "Er, sir? Remember him? The insurgent?"

"Yes, how could I forget? It can't be because he and his followers are the _only_ thing in the universe that pose any threat to me whatsoever, definitely not that he turned my own _daughter_ against me, and it most certainly can't be because he _stole_ my most treasured possession to boot! So tell me, how _could_ I have forgotten him?"

Cali gulped. "Er, sir, he isn't your only threat. What about Kaos?"

"Please, Cali, the only thing that that bald nutjob is a danger to is _himself_. He was so _pathetic_ that a robot programmed to follow his every command betrayed him. Do you _really_ think he poses a threat to someone like _me_? Now, why did you call?"

"You know Spyro? The purple dragon who joined the -"

"Yes, yes, the current leader of the Cores, what about him?"

"It appears your agents weren't as successful at erasing every trace of the insurgent from the palace as we thought. I don't know how or where, but he found a fragment of the insurgent's journal. It didn't tell him anything important, nothing that made him suspicious, but it was enough to arouse his curiosity. And he intended to ask Chop Chop for more information,"

"What?!" the voice growled. "Oh no. If that dragon somehow joins enough of the dots, finds out the truth and joins that _bastard_ , we're all in trouble. The two of them working together? They might erase all of my hard work! You need to make sure that that dragon remains utterly clueless about the _fiasco_ that that experiment turned into!" With that, the other end of the line went dead. Cali gulped.

X

A phone rang in Chop Chop's house. Spyro and Terrafin could hear it through the obviously-not soundproof door.

Cell phones were a very recent invention in Skylands. The Earthen Portal Masters working with the Skylanders had brought theirs when they moved to Skylands, but upon their discovery that due to the absence of a telephone network they were all but useless, had turned them over to Drobot and Sprocket. A couple of months later, they were being mass-produced and spread throughout Skylands as the best thing since hot buttered toast. It had quickly become one of the few rules the Skylanders as an organisation had that all active Skylanders had to carry a phone at all times. The Skylanders themselves, of course, hardly complained, the innovation had made it far easier to stay in contact.

"Greetings," Chop Chop greeted the caller. A small pause while whoever was on the other end of the line continued. "I see. I will be there immediately,"

A second later, the door swung open, the Arkeyan strode out, closed and locked the door behind him. "You two should return to the Palace. There is a situation that demands the attention of all three of us," Chop Chop instructed the other two, before purposefully striding away.

A second later, Terrafin's own phone rang. "Yeah?" the shark greeted the caller. "Say what? Hang on, I'm with Spyro, I'll put you on speaker,"

Terrafin pressed a button. "Hey! It's Brock! Spyro, can you hear me?"

Spyro opened his mouth to respond, but the phone shouted at him. "WRONG!"

"Actually, Brock, I can hear you," Spyro pointed out. "Sure you can. Anyway, apparently that annoying pilot guy flew into a volcano and called for back-up. Cali got me to help call everyone. Get over to the Core of Light!" Brock commanded. Terrafin was about to hang up, but then Brock shouted, "WRONG! You should already be there!"

Terrafin ended the call. "He annoys me so much," the shark grumbled.

"Sounds like Flynn's in trouble," Spyro frowned. "Please. He only flew into a volcano. You know what Flynn's like, he'll come out without a scratch," Terrafin snorted, and Spyro nodded, conceding the point, before looking back at the bunker. "Chop Chop left my paper in there," the dragon growled.

His sharky companion snorted, rolling his eyes. "Gimme a second, I'll get it," he told Spyro, putting his knuckledusters back on.

This time, the blow was sufficient to punch through the damaged door. The metal made a satisfying thunk as it landed on the interior of the door, and Terrafin barged in. "Here ya go," the shark snatched the parchment off a table and handed it to Spyro, who was still outside the door. "Chop Chop will be so pissed off," Terrafin smirked self-satisfiedly.

"And that's a good thing?" Spyro cocked his head and raised a curious eyebrow.

"Eh. Old coot can't stand me anyway," Terrafin shrugged it off, and Spyro nodded, conceding the point. "Besides, not like it's the first time I've punched that door down,"

X

The two arrived back at the Palace to find a line-up of some of the most experienced Skylanders in the ranks awaiting them. "Hey, Spyro!" Trigger Happy enthusiastically waved to his friend. "Greetings," Stealth Elf nodded to Terrafin, who shot her the peace symbol. "What took you so long?" Chop Chop questioned, before spotting the piece of paper Spyro was still holding. The skeleton strode up to Spyro, bent down a little, and told the dragon, "I tell you this as a friend, not a subordinate. You're digging your own grave by pursuing this matter. Don't say I didn't warn you when you're being buried in it. I've been around the block more than everyone else you know put together. Trust me when I say that forgetting this matter is for your own good,"

With that, the robot walked away and, looking around, Spyro spotted a certain dragoness. "Ah, hey, Cynder," he nervously smiled, sitting on his haunches next to her.

Cali ran up towards the assembled Skylanders before they could strike up a proper conversation. "What was yah reason for calling us ahll here? It don't take sixteen Skylanders tah rescue Flynn," Prism Break questioned in his Colonial American accent.

"Well, two reasons actually. First off, you all know that the Cloudbreak Volcano is going to erupt soon, and there's been a lot of debate about who the lucky sixteen Skylanders who will be picked to be the Cloudbreak Skylanders, two of each element, this year?" Cali smiled.

it was a long-running tradition. When the Cloudbreak Volcano erupted every 100 years to replenish all the magic in Skylands, the two most proficient Skylanders from each of he eight elements were chosen as guards, known as the Cloudbreak Skylanders, and given the great and ceremonious honour of protecting the Volcano from evil.

Spyro quickly counted it up. Yep, there were two Skylanders present from each element. "So we're the lucky ones who've been picked, eh?" Sprocket questioned, hiding her excitement by fiddling with her goggles. Cali nodded confirmation, and several of the asswmbled Skylanders cheered. "So that thing about Flynn flying into a volcano was just a ruse to get us all here?" Camo chuckled. "Couldn't have pulled a better one myself,"

Cali looked uncomfortable. "That's the thing, Flynn really did fly into a volcano, so you all need to leave for Cloudbreak early to help him out. Which brings me to my third and final piece of news," Cali whistled through her teeth, nervous about what she had to say next. "Yeah?" Terrafin raised an eyebrow. "I've decided that each of you should mentor one of my most promising Skylander trainees for the duration of your stay at Cloudbreak. I've selected two from each element and paired them up how I think most appropriate,"

"I will teach my trainee all that I know," Chop Chop nodded. The other responses were more mixed. "Always wanted an assistant," Sprocket smirked, cracking her knuckles. "What? You can't do this! I don't wanna lug some rookie around everywhere I go!" Terrafin madly protested. Stealth Elf thought fir a second, then shrugged. "As long as they don't get in my way,"

"Awesome! My own personal partner in crime! Yehahahahahaha!" Trigger Happy laughed, and Jet-Vac nodded in approval of the situation. This was not shared by Hot Dog. "What? Why? How am I supposed to teach anyone anything?"

"He has a point. Watch this," Pop Fizz sniggered, pulling out an orange potion. "Fetch!" he commanded, throwing the potion into the air. "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" Hot Dog gushed, rushing after the potion. The lava dog jumped up and snatched the potion in his jaws, only for it to blow up in his face. Whimpering, he ran to Eruptor and cowered behind the lava golem.

Cali winced. "Maybe he wasn't the best choice," she muttered.

"Wait. Flynn's on vacstion, and he took the Dread-Yacht with him. And Cloudbreak has a protective barrier that prevents use of portals. How will we get there?" Spyro realised,

Cali smirked. "Sprocket can answer that,"

Sprocket cocked an eyebrow, smiling. "I was wondering when we were going to showcase that new feature,"

"Er, what new feature?" Terrafin questioned. "Remember we built a new Skylander quarters block recently?" Sprocket smiled.

Everyone remembered that. The new quarters consisted of an eight-storey-tall circle, compartmentalised with a total of two hundred and sixty-four almost-identical small suites, one for each Skylander. Skylanders such as Chop Chop who had alternate living arrangements refused to use it as anything more than storage, but the majority of them enjoyed the relatively spacious quarters. It had started out bleak and depressing, but as each Skylander had personalised their area it had become a myriad patchwork of colours, with only the uninhabited parts retaining their original appearance.

"We carefully designed and modified each individual apartment to function as independent minor aircraft. For occasions when portals are inadequate, and so that you can bring all the luxuries of home with you on missions," Sprocket explained.

Prism Break scratched his head. "Huh?"

Sprocket sighed. "Your rooms turn into planes," she dumbed it down.

"Awesome! Trigger Happy! Taking to the sky! Let's go!" the gremlin laughed, firing his guns into the air in celebration. "Why didn't you tell us about this sooner?" Camo demanded.

"That's why," Cali explained,mgesturing at Trigger Happy, who was running in the direction of the living quarters as fast as his stumpy little legs could take him. Camo nodded, admitting the point, as the sixteen Skylanders set off, following Trigger Happy.

X

Spyro surveyed his rooms. A quarter of the area, to the back-left of the door, which was in the back-right, was blocked off, which functioned as the bathroom, containing a toilet and a bath, and the rest was open space. There was a blanket-lined den opposite from the bathroom, and above it were several shelves of Spyro's favourite books. Along from that were framed commemorative photos of his past adventures. There were also doors in the side walls and hatches in the floor and ceiling, the latter of which had a retractable ladder hanging from it. Spyro had tried opening these, but they only lead to pipes and tanks, so he assumed they were for maintenance. Finally, there was a wall-length window with a reinforced glass door that lead to a small balcony, and this was mostly taken up with flowerboxes. There was also a small stove and a fridge in the corner, near the door.

A new addition, though, was to the wall-length window that ran along the side of the room facing the outer edge. The row of large flowerboxes on the far side of that window had been emptied out. Now the panelling of the wall underneath the window had peeled back, and a slanted dashboard had been revealed. Peering into the window, it turned out that the flowerboxes had been the containment for this hidden array.

"Attention all Skylanders about to leave for Cloudbreak," Sprocket's voice echoed throughout Spyro's room. "This is the inter-room intercom. It has been designed to automatically connect to all units within range," Spyro nodded, understanding, as he found a small speaker underneath a dashboard. "I must warn you all, these crafts are equipped with signal flares but no weaponry, so if you come under attack your best bet is to turn and run. Finally, I would like to explain the annex feature to you all. I am certain you have all noticed the seemingly pointless hatches and doors in your rooms? Those are designed so that these crafts can connect with each other mid-flight and allow one person to fly for all crafts while others rest. The controls are simple, and there is an in-built GPS so you should have no trouble finding your way to Cloudbreak. See you all there," Sprocket explained, and background noise indicated she had taken off.

"Er, Spyro?" Cynder's voice attracted his attention as he carefully eased the craft out of it's position. He was on the fourth floor, and Cynder had the room right next to his. "Would you mind doing that annex thing with my craft? I doubt anyone else would want to,"

Spyro smiled. "Sure. Get on top of me and we'll see if we can connect these," he responded to his girlfriend, who was being a lot faster about getting her craft out of the grid than he was.

"Oh, the innuendos," Camo chuckled. "See ya!" he shouted, and Spyro noticed a second-floor craft rocket out of it's bracket to his right. "I'm gonna go visit my girlfriend - I'll be late!" the plant dragon added. "Pssh, like that punk has a girlfriend," Terrafin snorted, and Spyro spotted his craft carefully moving towards his as Cynder carefully aligned hers atop his. The hatch in his roof slid open and the ladder dropped down, and Cynder's violet head came through it a few seconds later. "Hey," she greeted her boyfriend. Spyro nodded to her.

"Sadly, he's telling the truth," Stealth Elf sighed through the mike. "He began dating an ankylosaurus a couple of months ago. I'm surprised you haven't heard. He can't shut up about it,"

"Eh, I just take it for granted that everything he says is rubbish," Terrafin shrugged. "Hey, Spyro! Spyro! Can I connect my house to yours?" Hot Dog enthusiastically asked. "I think that's a good idea. He'll probably forget where we're going," Sprocket advised. Spyro sighed, there went any hope of alone time with his girlfriend. "Alright, connect behind me," he allowed.

Within seconds, the fire pup's craft was connected to the rear of Spyro's craft - Hot Dog's balcony folded downwards and the door that lead to it was connected to the door in Spyro's room that would normally have lead out into the corridor. The doors swung open. "Hi, Spyro!" Hot Dig yipped from the room that was now behind Spyro's. "Anyone else wanna connect?" Spyro sighed in resignation. "Sure," Terrafin nodded. "I'll take that," Gill Grunt agreed. "No t'anks, me, Sprocket and Steal't El't are forming a girls group," Chill responded. "Can I join?" The purple dragon heard Whirlwind ask as the doors on either side of Spyro's room slid open, Terrafin's on his left and Gill Grunt on his right.

"And I'm gonna go rob a bank! Yehahahahaha!" Trigger Happy shouted. "You're joking, right?" Speocket asked in concern. "Er, sure. Heh,"

"A boys club, is it? Allow me to offer my assistance as group chauffeur," Jet-Vac offered the rapidly forming group centred around Spyro. "I'm here too!" Cynder shouted. "Like I said, a boys club?" Jet-Vac retorted. "Hey, you aren't joining anyone here if you're not willing to put up with Cynder," Spyro growled.

"It would be good having someone to pilot for the lot of us," Terrafin pointed out to Spyro, having joined the dragon in his room. "I am not putting up with anyone who will not tolerate Cynder," Spyro adamantly repeated.

"I'll fly with you, birdy," Pop Fizz offered Jet-Vac. "Thank you. Nice to see someone has some taste," Jet-Vac snorted, as the alchemist attached his craft to the front of Jet-Vac's. "I want to come with," Eruptor insisted on joining them both. "Er, thanks for the offer, old chap, but I think I'm fine with just Pop Fizz for company," the avian Skylander nervously responded.

"I will pilot for your team, sir. I will connect with Terrafin's room," Chop Chop told Spyro. "I'm cool with that," Terrafin shrugged.

"Whoa, old chap, what are you doing?" Jet-Vac suddenly demanded. "You need to learn to put up with Cynder!" Pop Fizz told him and carefully, yet rapidly, before Jet-Vac could stop him or disconnect, backed the two craft up to Cynder's room and forced a connection between Jet-Vac's stern and Cynder's front. "In accordance with the new situation, I will now connect to the bottom of Pop Fizz's room to increase aerodynamics. Are there any objections?" Chop Chop reported. No one said anything, so the skeleton connected to the appropriate hatch at the bottom of Pop Fizz' room, making a total of eight. Half of the Skylanders going to Cloudbreak had now connected to Spyro's room or adjoining ones.

"Nice move, Pop Fizz!" Spyro complimented his fellow Magic Element Skylander.

"We should get moving. We do not want to be late," the Undead Arkeyan declared, kicking in the thrusters and getting the ship going.

"What about me? There's no one left," Eruptor sighed, resigning himself to a lonely few days.

X

"What?" Prism Break, breaking the fourth wall, glared at the reader. "Ah ain't crazy enougn to link up with any of them. Can yeh honestly tell me ya WANT to be stuck in a room with even one o'them for roundabouts three days? First chance, ah was outta there. And nu-uh, ah ain't making a habit o'doing this breakin' dah fourth wall stuff. Just figured y'all deserved an explanation where ah was,"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Okay, the chapter was going to be longer, but I decided that it was getting long enough, and decided to start the third chapter after lift-off. Also, I want to get a bit of a vote running.**

 **Who should join me in the Author's Notes for now? You can vote on;**

 **A: Our old phoenix friend Gaiphe.**

 **B: Everyone's favourite alpine kitsune, Julie.**

 **C: The maniac from original DC canon and eventually DCR (Dragon Chronicles Revamped) canon too, Shadeblazer.**

 **D: My twin sister, Ala (aka Solar)**

 **Tell me your choices in a review! You'll see whoever the most people voted for in the next chapter.**

 **Also, apologies if anyone feels like hating on the 'apartmentcraft' thing. I just needed some way for the Skylanders to reach Cloudbreak, and since Tails is no longer here to pull random flying pirate ships out of thin air, I figured, hey, what the hell. It's never going to be a massive plot point anyway, so, why not?**

 **Also, NO characters I have mentioned or involved in any way yet, however vaguely, are OCs. The mysterious person Cali was talking to at the start of the chapter and their 'stolen' daughter are BOTH canon characters. I will give a HUGE prize to anyone who can figure out who either of them are. Let the fruitless guessing begin!**

 **I miss the virtuality portal already. XD It was terrible for plot, and probably single-handedly killed the original Dragon Chronicles, but it was fun being able to pull whatever I wanted out of video games whenever I felt like it. XD Peace!**


	3. Cabin Fever

Chapter 3: Cabin Fever

"Oh no, no way, you cannot make me spend time with her!" Jet-Vac protested, pointing at Cynder and placing extra vehemence on the word 'her'. "Oh, shut up, Sargent," Terrafin snorted. "She did bad stuff, she turned good, she made up for it, we all got over it. You should too!"

The two were standing in Spyro's room. Spyro himself was upstairs, trying to console Cynder.

"Can't blame a bird for having opinions," Jet-Vac snorted, turning away and folding his arms. "I don't have a problem with her. Hot Dog, do you have a problem with Cynder?" Terrafin shouted in the general direction of the pup's room. "Who's Cynder?" the reply came. "Pop Fizz, do you have a problem with Cynder?" Terrafin continued. "Naah, she's cool," the reply came from a few rooms down. "Spyro doesn't and neither does Chop Chop. And Cynder's hardly gonna have a problem with herself. That makes you the only one, beak-face," Terrafin growled.

Jet-Vac snorted in derision. "You missed someone,"

Terrafin quickly counted off all the Skylanders in the combined craft. "Oh. Right," he nervously grimaced. "Gill Grunt! Do you have a problem with Cynder?" he shouted at the doorway leading between Spyro's room and the fish soldier's. "Er, uh, how do I put this?" he responded, before conmecting door slid closed and the sound of thrusters kicking in could be heard through the walls as Gill Grunt made a hasty escape. "That rotten sharkbait," Terrafin growled. "Can't say I blame him. I also can't say I wouldn't join him if not for the safety restrictions," Jet-Vac distractedly nodded, inspecting his talons.

Due to a safety feature, a craft could only disconnect if it was only connected to one other craft and any other crafts were also connected in another way. Jet-Vac's vehicle was the only connection between Pop Fizz and Chop Chop's conjoined vehicles, and Cynder, Spyro, Terrafin and Hot Dog's vehicles. Therefore, the safety regulations prevented him from disconnecting unless either Pop Fizz or Cynder disconnected from him or someone put their craft in the gap between Chop Chop and Spyro.

X

"Just, why?" Cynder sniffed. She and Spyro were alone in her room. Cynder's room was rather average, in the same layout as Spyro's. Only two rooms, a bathroom and an everywhere else. A stove and fridge in the corner, near the door, and a draconic den opposite it. A wall-length window at the front that would normally overlook a balcony but the view was obscured by Jet-Vac's room forcibly connected to hers. Cynder's walls, though, were painted a light shade of violet. Other than that, it all looked quite ordinary - except there was a noticeable absence of any photographs, any mementos. Anything, other than the books on the shelf, that really said anything about the room's owner.

"It's okay," Spyro consoled the violet dragoness, lying perpendicular to her and wrapping his wing around Cynder's slim frame. The dragoness buried her angular head in Spyro's neck, and the dragon gently laid his head atop hers.

"Thanks," Cynder sniffed. "I don't get it. Why can't they just accept you've changed?" Spyro asked no one in particular. Cynder sniffed. "Have I?"

Spyro gently nuzzled the back of her neck. "Sure you have. You wouldn't have been picked as a Cloudbreak Skylander if you hadn't,"

"They only did that because you wouldn't have gone if I wasn't," Cynder mumbled. "So? You could have come, even if you weren't one. The eruption is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, odds are half the Skylanders will be taking time off to see it. You were still chosen,"

"Against what? Seriously, my competition was an undead ostrich racer who slacks off so much I'm surprised he hasn't been fired, a ghoul who goes crazy whenever he sees something he can eat, and a sorceress who acts so aloof nobody likes her. And then there's me, hated by everyone. Chop Chop's the only competent Undead Core,"

"I still think that's unfair. You're not undead, your powers aren't related to death -"

Cynder threw herself out from under Spyro and glared at him. "I summon the ghosts of the recently deceased to aid me in battle,"

"Because Eon gave you that charm to help you harness Undead elemental energy. Not because of you yourself," Spyro gently pointed out. Cynder snorted, "Whatever," and laid back down - but didn't complain when her boyfriend laid down against her again.

X

"What is your problem with Cynder, anyway?" Terrafin demanded. "Let's see, reason number one," Jet-Vac mimed counting off on his claws. "She's evil! Reason number two. She's evil. Oh, and we can hardly forget reason number three, eh? She's evil," Jet-Vac nodded with each syllable to emphasise his point. "You ain't got no proof of that," Terrafin snorted, jabbing Jet-Vac in the chest with a finger. "Did you see what she did to the Dragon Realms?"

"Under Malefor's control," Terrafin retorted. "Fine, have it your way," Jet-Vac snorted. "Just don't come running to me when she betrays us all," the anthropomorphic bird snorted, opening the door to Spyro's balcony and stepping through it.

Terrafin watched jn shock as the Air Skylander jumped off the edge and plummeted. "What the hell?" he asked, worried despite his anger at Jet-Vac.

His anger resurfaced as Jet-Vac returned to view, flying upwards, opening the back door to Chop Chop's section and placing a foot inside, before turning, flipping Terrafin the bird and slamming the door. "Oh, that rotten piece of poultry!" the shark cursed.

X

"Heyo, old chap," Jet-Vac nodded respectfully to Chop Chop. "I thought you disliked the Undead element?" Chop Chop questioned, not looking up from the controls. "Nope. I make opinions based on individuals. You've been alive and fighting for the Skylanders for longer than everyone else I know put together. Way I see it, that makes you alright in my book,"

"I see," Chop Chop responded, seeming to think for a second. "Would you assist me with something?" he asked a moment later. "Depends, old chap, what did ya have in mind?" Jet-Vac cocked a brow.

"Spyro has discovered something he should not have. It is for his own good that he be persuaded to drop the matter. Can I count on your assistance?"

"And what something would this be?" Jet-Vac asked.

Chop Chop was silent. "Hello? Anyone home?" the bird asked after a few moments.

"It is as you said. I have been alive and fighting for the Skylanders for longer than anyone else you know. When you live that long, you watch things happen. Things that perhaps I should not have allowed to happen. But even I cannot change the past. I can only do my best to prevent anyone else from sinking into that particular quagmire. And it is that quagmire I fear has entrapped Spyro," Chop Chop finally told his fellow Skylander.

Jet-Vac gulped at the description Chop Chop had laid out for him. Visibly unnerved, he nodded. "Alright then. But me and Spyro ain't on the best of terms. I can't promise that he'll listen to me,"

"I know," Chop Chop replied.

After a few seconds of silence, Jet-Vac shrugged. "Alright, I'll, uh, be going now," and climbed out of the room.

A few minutes later, Chop Chop spoke out loud, voicing his thoughts. "Something is starting. I can sense it. I only hope I can prevent this situation before it even begins,"

X

But despite his promises, Jet-Vac failed to bring up the matter to Spyro. Instead, he sat in his room for the first two days of the flight and sulked about the fact that no one on the craft agreed with him. Pop Fizz eventually got sick of walking through the angry avian's room, and moved his own to the spot Gill Grunt's had been in, to the right of Spyro's. He, of course, used Hot Dog's room to make sure the safety restrictions continued to prevent Jet-Vac from making his escape. The fire pup was the only one oblivious enough to stand passing through the brooding bird's room, and he barely went into his own anyway.

Terrafin and Pop Fizz amused themselves through feeding potions to Hot Dog. Cynder and Spyro stayed in Cynder's room for the most part, and the others wondered what they got up to in there. No one actually knew what, and things stayed that way.

Chop Chop resolutely piloted the ship, his attention never straying. Even when he adjusted his individual craft's position to take Pop Fizz's room's place.

And so the first two days of the three-day voyage to Cloudbreak passed in tedium.

X

"You ever wonder where those toilets go?" Terrafin asked Pop Fizz. "I'd bet they just dump our waste on whatever's beneath us," the gremlin shrugged.

"Hate to be under the exhaust when that happens," Terrafin snorted.

There was a brief pause.

"You know, they could have designed these places a little better. It's just all so cramped. The dragons have bigger spaces in their rooms," Pop Fizz frowned.

"That being why I smashed a few holes in the walls of mine," Terrafin chuckled.

The non-draconic Skylanders' crafts had a different interior design. The bathroom was at the front, in front of the door to the right. All the space between the right door (which was accessed through a corridor between the segmented rooms) and the main door was the bedroom, which only had one door. The upper and right areas of the room were the living space, with a partition in the upper right corner that was a partially fenced off kitchen with a closable window/counter between it and the living space. Yet another wall ran between the bathroom and the kitchen, dividing away a final room that had no real purpose. In Terrafin's room, this particular wall had been demolished, as had most of the walls around the bedroom.

"It makes sense, though, dragons get bigger," Pop Fizz shrugged. "I'll show them bigger! Gimme a potion to do that!" Terrafin shouted. Pop Fizz gulped, realising that his friend might have had a bit more of a reaction to the mild alcoholic spike he had put in their drinks than he had. "Er, Terrafin, my friend, I think you're drunk,"

"Don't be ridiculous, I've chugged harder brews with hot sauce," the dirt shark chuckled, then hiccuped as he took another swig of the beverage Pop Fizz had whipped up. "Though that was jusht about eleventy-ish yearsh ago - hiccupsh coming," Terrafin then proceeded to hiccup, just as he had foretold. "Is it possible being drunk gives Terrafin the psychic ability to see the future? He just predicted that he was about to hiccup!" Pop Fizz gasped. "Quick, drink more!" he commanded, giving Terrafin his drink.

Terrafin snatched the cup and gulped the rest down. "Who is the next person you're going to punch?" Pop Fizz experimentally asked. "It's gonna be the blue gremlin right in front of me," Terrafin swayed, doing his best to sound macho despite his drunken state.

"Brilliant!" Pop Fizz celebrated, before realising exactly what the Earth Skylander had said. "Wait a second -"

Terrafin's bare, yet still strong, fist smacked the gremlin in the nose. Even without much power behind it, sapped by Terrafin's drunken state, it was a strong punch. The alchemist swayed, before collapsing on the ground. "At least he can predict the future," he moaned.

X

"I wonder what's going on down there?" Cynder thought aloud. "There's some things you don't ask, and how Pop Fizz spends his days is one of them," Spyro advised.

"Attention all Skylanders travelling with me. I have received information about our exact destination from Sprocket. We will arrive in two hours," Chop Chop said in monotone over the intercom.

"Hey!" Hot Dog barked, entering Cynder's room and joining the two dragons. "I just saw a bunch of little planes! Isn't that cool?"

"Lemme guess, they were waving flags and painted all the colours of the rainbow," Cynder snorted. Hot Dog cocked his head in confusion. "Nope. They were black and purple and pointing guns at us,"

"What!" Spyro gasped.

X

"Attention all Skylanders! Me and my group are under attack! Everyone get back to your rooms! If we split up we'll have less chance of being shot down!" Spyro shouted into Cynder's mike. "I will forward the coordinates to our destination to all of you," Chop Chop reported.

"See you soon," Spyro quickly kissed Cynder on the cheek, before jumping down into his own room - to find Pop Fizz had disconnected from the right of his room and Terrafin was slumped, unconscious, on the floor.

Pop Fizz, who had apparently repositioned his room so that it was attached to Terrafin's, slunk in from the dirt shark's quarters and stopped dead at the sight of he purple dragon. "Spyro, hi," he nervously greeted, snatching up Terrafin's wrist and pathetically trying to pull Terrafin into his own room without the dragon noticing. "What did you do?" Spyro snorted.

"He, ah, got a little drunk," Pop Fizz nervously told his fellow Magic Element, shivering under Spyro's glare.

Spyro cocked his head, hearing Cynder's room disconnect from above his. "Get out of here. I'll take care of him," he commanded.

"Yes sir!" Pop Fizz dashed away. Spyro heard clamps disengaging and saw Pop Fizz's craft fly away through the window. Terrafin's was the only one still attached to him, and even as Spyro came to this realisation the craft rocked. The dragon sniffed and detected a suspicious whiff of fresh air. "Hey, dragon! Theresh a hole in the corner," Terrafin slurred, looking up for a second. Looking around, Terrafin was right. There was a chunk of brick and metal missing from just above his bed, and Spyro spotted a little craft fly past for a second. He couldn't make out much, but it looked malevolent enough to arouse his suspicions. "If we survive this, I'm gonna kill you," Spyro groaned at the dirt shark slumped on the floor, and seized the controls.

"Just because I have no weapons, doesn't mean I'm defenceless," Spyro gritted his teeth as the craft shot forwards. The GPS engaged itself, but Spyro barely looked at it as he frantically pulled at the joystick. The ship swerved in a tight turn to the left, from open air to skimming above a forested Skyland. "Whowp!" Spyro gasped in shock as a flock of birds soared towards him, frantically pulling up to avoid smashing into them.

The distant pulse of gunfire rapidly became not so distant, the craft jerking about as energy pulses peppered it's rear. In retaliation, Spyro pulled a half loop, swerving the craft into the opposite direction and spending a few nerve-wracking seconds up-side-down, before correcting - Terrafin's prone form falling into mid-air before crashing down to the ground with a thunk - and getting his first good look at his assailants.

They were a trio of small planes, mostly black and purple with highlights of pale, greying yellow. The surprising thing was their pilots, tiny, warty, knobbly runts with big heads and ears with holes in them and stubby little tails. They were dressed in ragged blue shirts and red bandanas, and wielding little swords, doing their best to look threatening. They were almost cute, in a really ugly way.

"Seriously? What, has Kaos run out of trolls?" Spyro derisively snorted at the sight of the 'new-and-deproved' minions. "Kaos! Where is that little punk, he owesh me five smackersh!" Terrafin exploded from the ground in rage at the mention of the name, before drunkenly swaying, "And I don't mean smackersh like kishes, if he tries to kish me I'll . . . ." He collapsed back to the ground in a semi-drunken state. "I will wring your non-existent neck, Pop Fizz," Spyro growled.

One of the minions' ships angled upwards, moving to intercept him. In response, Spyro arced downwards, aiming for the other two.

With a whoosh of air that the dragon could _feel_ through the hole in the back of his craft, the two soared past each other in opposite directions with less than a metre to spare.

Spyro twisted his craft vertically - digging his claws inti the carpet for purchase and wincing as he heard Terrafin belly-slide across the crusted shag, thunking into the wall - as he moved towards the other two enemy ships, and, planning his move in seconds, in the instant that he whooshed between the two jets, he slammed Terrafin's half back downwards to horizontal, dealing a hammer blow to his opposition to the left. The dragon smirked in grim satisfaction as the craft spiralled downwards and crashed into the Skyland beneath them. "One down," he smirked.

The angle had caused Terrafin to slide back towards the left of the room's interior and out of the corner of his eye Spyro spotted him slide back across the crusted shag on his belly, back into his own side of the room.

The other two crafts were pointing in completely the wrong direction, and Spyro knew that by the time they turned around, he would have enough of a head start that they would be incapable of catching up. Unless they had reinforcements, he was home free.

The dragon finally took a look at the GPS. "Seems simple enough," he shrugged, setting a course to the coordinates Chop Chop had given him.

"Hey, wyvern thingy! There'sh a guy over there!" Terrafin slurred, pointing at the cliff face on an island nearby Spyro. "Don't be ridiculous, that's a cliff face," Spyro snorted. "There'sh a hole," Terrafin snorted, still pointing.

Spyro frowned. He was right, there was an oddly large cave. "What the?" he frowned, subconsciously adjusting the controls and coming closer.

In an instant, a missile shot out of the cave, directly towards Spyro. "Oh crud!" Spyro gasped, dashing out of it's path and into the relative safety of the bathroom. Terrafin, luckily, had managed to get himself into his own room.

A huge explosion came from the front of the room. Through the half-open door, Spyro spotted the blast disintegrating the cockpit, breathing a sigh of relief that he was no longer there, before ducking his head. He had decided the safest place to take cover was the steel bathtub.

The shockwave tore his room in half, the tiles cracking centimetres from his scaly face. Half of the bathroom, as well as the last part of his main room, was torn away from the rest. Terrafin's part of the craft, still attached to a piece of Spyro's, span away in the opposite direction.

Spyro was jolted back to reality as the back wall behind him smashed into the cliff face, brick, metal and piping disintegrating. He ducked back into the bathtub, even as it became weightless beneath him.

He was falling. And he didn't know if there was land beneath him.

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Firstly, -**

 **"Hey, everybody!"**

 **Don't interrupt me, sis. XD**

 **"Alright,"**

 **Anyway. Firstly, apparently I didn't give enough information on the two unknown characters to get anyone to actually bother guessing. So here's the next hinter: one of them has only been in the original Skylanders game, Spyro's Adventure. To date, anyway, they might return in SuperChargers or any game after that. The other has only been seen in the currently most recent game, Trap Team. Again, they may or may not return in SuperChargers and other future, yet unannounced games. I will not say which was in which.**

 **"Oh, and sorry for portraying Pop Fizz that way earlier, Seraph, whenever you read this. We're trying to do things realistically - and Pop Fizz strikes us as someone who's smart but knows nothing of logic and/or common sense,"**

 **Anyway. For the record, Sparkbutt, what I'm doing with Cali is yet to be revealed. And I have a problem with her because way back in Spyro's Adventure I COULD NEVER BEAT ANY OF HER FRICKING HEROIC CHALLENGES! Also, I hate that people ship her with Flynn. Flessa all the way, baby!**

 **"Flessa? Seriously?"**

 **It was that or Telynn, take your pick. (TessaXFlynn)**

 **"Impressive cliffhanger. I can't wait to -"**

 **No spoilers!**

 **"Right, sorry. Peace!"**

 **This ag-**


	4. Crash, Ramble and Shock

Ch. 4: Crash, Ramble and Shock

"Nice place," Gill Grunt appreciatively commented. The coordinates had lead the Skylanders to a small village in a giant cloud forest, hewn from giant tree trunks. It was collectively known by the locals as Woodburrow, and, in Jet-Vac's words, "it was a quaint little place and just the sort of town he might retire to,"

"This is a quaint little place," Jet-Vac declared to the group he was with upon arrival. "Just the sort of town I might retire to in a few decades or so,"

"We know," Pop Fizz groaned. "You've said that twice now,"

"Okay, everyone here?" Sprocket asked upon the arrival of the group that had been with Spyro. "Now that someone finally arrived," Whirlwind snorted, casting an irritated glare at Camo. "I'm a boyfriend first and a Skylander second," the plant dragon defended himself. "And you'll be fired third if you keep that attitude up," Cali snorted.

"Ay, lassie, why are you here? Shouldn't ya be keeping an eye on the others back at the Core?" Jet-Vac questioned the feline Mabu. For a second her eyes widened in panic, then returned to normal in a practised mask of indifference. "I'm, ah, here to keep an eye on the rookies. Everyone back at the Core is a qualified Skylander, they can take care of themselves, and if necessary they still have Hugo, Brock and Ermit there - though I really question whether I should classify Ermit as help or not,"

"Ooh, I vote not," Trigger Happy squealed.

"Anyway," Cali continued, casting an irritated glare at Trigger Happy, "but the rookies still aren't qualified. While at the end of this two-week probation period, you all will have the say in whether your trainee is inducted as an official Skylander, I should still be here if they need support,"

Prism Break frowned. "Where are them rookies anyhows?" he questioned.

"Remember Flynn's ship crashed?" Cali asked. "Yeah, but that was, like, three days ago," Pop Fizz frowned. "They've been getting it back here. It's taking a bit longer than expected,"

Suddenly a loud explosion sounded from above them, and everyone quietened. Sprocket had donned her goggles, and had used her spanner to bat a mine into the air, where it had exploded. "I repeat," she growled. "Is everyone here now?"

Chop Chop surveyed the group, as did Cali. "Jet-Vac and Whirlwind are here, that's Air. Stealth Elf and Camo, Life. Eruptor and Hot Dog, Fire. Chop Chop and -"

"Everyone is here except Spyro and Terrafin," Chop Chop interrupted her. "I was just about to reach that conclusion," the Mabu snorted in irritation.

"Spyro? Didn't he get here?" Cynder asked, worried. "And Terrafin?" Pop Fizz gulped, feeling guilty. "I'll track their ships," Sprocket resolved, pulling out a device that resembled a Wii U Gamepad. After a few moments, she smiled grimly. "Good news and bad news. Good news is, I have a strong fix on Terrafin's signal. He's crashed a little way outside Mudwater Hollow - which is good, we were going there anyway. But," Sprocket paused, obviously having trouble with saying this. "The bad news?"

"Please don't say it, please don't say it, please don't say it," Cynder begged under her breath,"

"I can't find any trace of Spyro. His phone's off the grid and the tracking beacon in his house is either disabled," Sprocket paused and gulped. "Or destroyed," she finally finished.

"So, Spyro's dea-" Pop Fizz started, before being snatched up by Chill. "Not in vront of t'e girlfriend," she whispered in his ear.

X

Nervously, Spyro peeked over the bathtub he had taken shelter in. Remarkably, it was mostly intact, and was falling on an angle, with his nose pointed diagonally downwards. The dragon breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of a forest several hundred metres beneath him, he would not fall into the Abyss.

The Abyss was the common name for the space below Skylands. Down there, it was a sea of cloud, thick and white. No one had ever come up from there, though plenty had gone down. The people foolish enough to attempt such an endeavour were commonly called Divers. Anyone who Dived to below cloud cover had never been seen again - and Spyro was in no hurry to join the ranks of the Diving departed.

Debris and clutter from his home fell around him. A novel fell inches from the edge of the bathtub, and Spyro desperately retrieved it. He panicked for a second, thinking of the mysterious piece of parchment he had found in the library three days ago, but sighed in relief upon recalling that he had entrusted it to Cynder. It would be safe with her - assuming she had safely escaped to the rendezvous point.

"Eragon. I remember that series," Spyro smiled at the sight of the book's cover.

The dragon ducked as a chunk of wall fell past, narrowly missing his scaly head and knocking it to the side as it chipped against his horns. Feeling them in momentary panic, his eyes widened as he felt a small gash that had been torn out of the back of his left horn. It would grow back, given a few weeks or months, but nothing was more sacred to a dragon than their horns.

Spyro thought for a second. If he didn't have something to cushion the blow when he landed, the dragon would be flattened like a pancake. His velocity was too great to attempt to take wing, if he tried that the membrane of his wings would be shredded like paper. He needed something to break his fall.

The dragon's eyes locked onto the slab of former wall that had just swung by him. That looked to be his best option, as it fell less than a metre away. But how to reach it?

A tube of rubber piping, broken away from the shower, soared by underneath the tub, and Spyro, spotting it, snatched it seconds before it span out of reach Using his fire breath, he hastily welded the lingering metal housing of the nozzle to the edge of the bathtub. Spyro grasped the other end in his claws, and, making sure that it would hold, jumped towards the wreckage of the wall.

He landed on the side of the wall and, in an instant, dug his back claws into the wall, making sure that he was firmly anchored in.

Spyro, nervously noting that the ground was getting closer, pulled on the rubber tubing, hauling the bath closer. Normally this would be an impossible feat, but the weightlessness of the fall meant that some of the laws of physics had been temporarily suspended. So, in a feat of strength reminiscent of the Giant Skylanders, the dragon managed to heave the bathtub and chunk of wall together, resting the metal rear of the bathtub against the side of the wall.

The ground was less than five hundred metres away. In a frantic hurry, Spyro welded, again with his fire breath, the steel tub to one side of the wall, climbed inside the tub having made sure that the orientation of his improvised impact shield was correct. He absent-mindedly noted with some interest that the book he had rescued was still inside the tub -

CRASH.

The vessel smashed into the ground, the wall beneath the bath disintegrating upon impact with the earth. The impact threw the tub, in addition to a few surviving fragments, a few feet into the air, toppling forwards and back to the vertical.

With a frantic thrust, Spyro pushed backwards, returning the bathtub to it's correct alignment, even as it crashed to the ground. The dragon's head rung from the impact, and he weakly groaned as the tub ground to a halt, listing to one side.

"Ouch," Spyro moaned, more out of shock and dizziness than any real injury. His quick thinking with the improvised impact absorber had almost definitely saved his life.

Doing a quick inventory, he had bruises on his claws and underbelly, his muzzle hurt where he had knocked it against the side of the bath, and his tail felt like he had torn a ligament somewhere. But it was nothing he wouldn't be able to walk off.

Spyro cast a fond glance at the book he had rescued. It was seemingly all that was left of his home. His phone had been left recharging in the console, so the dragon didn't have that with him and couldn't call for help. He would need to find civilisation.

Luckily, he felt well enough to fly.

x

Terrafin staggered out of the crashed craft. "What the hell happened?" he groaned. "Where is everyone?" he muttered. "Did that gremlin get me drunk? Pop Fizz? Pop Fizz?" The dirt shark was obviously still partially drunk

"Why, hello there," a new voice appeared. "Whozat? Gill Grunt, is that you?"

The speaker, despite being a Gillman like Gill Grunt, was not the Gillman Skylander. "Why, hello, name's Snagglescale. Snagglescale Sandscratcher. Very nice to meetcha. Say, that there's is a mighty fine dinghy thingy behind ya. But it kinda looks like it's in a bit of a shambles if ya know what I mean,"

Terrafin blearily turned around looked at his house. It was a wreck, having crashed into a dried-up riverbank. One end had totally collapsed in on itself, and about a third of Spyro's room was still attached - not that it was in any better condition. Chunks of plaster had rained down on the surrounding area. Jagged shards of glass were scattered where a window had broken and the roof had buckled. "Maybe I shouldn't have knocked out so many of the walls," Terrafin lamented. "You know what, old chap? I don't not think that that thingy's gonna be going anywhere, and I mean anywhere, unless ya count nowhere as part of anywhere, because that's where that thing is going, absolutely nowhere, and ain't that the truth," Snagglescale rambled.

"Well, now I need to work out where Spyro is," Terrafin groaned. "Y'now, I'msa thinking I've seen you somewhere before, were you ever in the ring? And I mean like the boxing ring, not a wedding ring or a friendship ring or some other kind of ring,"

"Yeah. Used to be champion before I joined up with the Skylanders, what's it to ya?" Terrafin questioned.

"Now I'm not sure if you remember or not, but I used to be pretty good at boxing. They used to call me the Grievous Gillmen - because the families of the people I beat grieved, if you know what I mean, and I'm not saying you do, so lemme elaborate -"

"Hey, yeah. I think I saw you once," Terrafin smiled, interrupting. "Boxers salute," Gurglefin suggested. "You got it!" Terrafin smiled in pure joy and punched the Gillman in the face. "Now that's a right hook," Snagglescale smiled, picking himself up and returned the gesture, ramming his webbed fist into Terrafin's nose.

"Ouch," Terrafin sniggered. "Maybe I'm getting soft," he frowned. "Soft? From the Sandsea Slugger? No way, nu-uh, never. I would never believe somethin as lucridious, and I mean absolutely lucridious, as that, and that's a complete fact, you can believe that right from the horse's mouth, but of course . . ."

Terrafin groaned. "Now I remember why we all called him the Chatty Cabbie behind his back,"

"But getting back to the point, how's about I take yas down to my village? You can contact ya Skylander buddies and get everything sorted out. Whaddya say, old chum?" Snagglescale suggested. "Sounds great, but, how do we get there?" the dirt shark questioned.

Snagglescale smiled. "Why are you smiling like that?"

"Oh, you'll see. And I'll bet you'll like it a lot, and I mean really like it, cause there ain't nothing better than my surprise that I have planned, and that there is a fact that you can count on, now follow me," Snagglescale beckoned, and walked down the dry riverbed, still chattering away. Terrafin groaned. "This is gonna be a long trip,"

X

Snatching up the book in his mouth, he leapt into the air, beating his wings against the gentle forest breeze and grabbing hold of a sturdy branch. Cat-like, he leapt higher into the canopy, carefully spreading his weight between several branches when individual branches could no longer take his weight. Eventually he made it to the top of the canopy and spread his wings wide, groaning in pleasure at the relief it granted as he leapt into the air.

The dragon fist/claw-pumped at the sight of a small, ramshackle-looking village a couple of Skylands away. "Score. They have to have a phone there, I can call the others," he resolved, twisting around and aiming in that direction.

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Seriously? No guesses? Final hinter towards the two mystery characters! They both had a close relationship with Master Eon before his spirit-ization-whatever.**

 **Also, I have finally identified Chill's accent as Russian, not German. And the only character I've ever seen/heard with a Russian accent is North/Santa Claus from Rise of the Guardians, so I have based her accent on him. I don't think it'll make much difference, she's only a minor character anyway.**

 **Anyway, I have a resolution not to let things get too complicated with the plot, so the current three plotlines will converge quite quickly.**

 **Nothing else to say. Peace!**


	5. Soaked

Ch. 5: Soaked

"I won't accept it," Cynder growled. "He can't be de-he-ead!" she sobbed, slumping to the floor, suddenly breaking down in dismay. "Hey, uh, calm down. I'm, uh, sure he's fine," Pop Fizz did his best to reassure her.

'Perhaps this is for the best,' Chop Chop thought to himself. 'If Spyro has become deceased, he will be unable to pursue the mystery, which is good for all of us, however, of course, it would be a terrible thing for the Skylanders to lose their leader at a time like this. If the Skylanders are running around like a headless chicken, it will be the perfect opportunity for evil to corrupt the eruption of the Cloudbreak Volcano. Either option causes great disarray," he calculated. 'A temporary leader must be appointed,' the Arkeyan decided.

"Right," Sprocket cracked her knuckles. "Where are those rookies? We need all the help we can get," she declared. "Don't worry, they should be here in a few moments," Cali reassured the Tech Skylander.

"Hey, look, it's the Dread-Yacht!" Trigger Happy squealed in excitement, all of a sudden. "Right on time," Cali smirked at the Golding. Sprocket skeptically snorted, blowing a strand of hair our of her eyes, even as the infamous cursed ship was towed into fiew by a swarm of . . . .

"Are those giant birds?" Stealth Elf frowned. "Look, Jet-Vac, you've found your ancestors," Camo chuckled. The Sky Baron snorted derisively at this. "I'll have you know those things are a completely separate genus of bird, there is no relation,"

The Dread-Yacht itself, though, was in terrible condition. It was listing to one side, and the crane deck had been smashed into oblivion. The lander craft that was mounted near the rear of the ship had vanished, never to be found again. The wall that blocked the room that had once been Cali's had buckled and collapsed, and the roof had partially caved in. A lot of the starboard-side impact tires had been torn away, and the quarters Persephone had once occupied had been smashed, ragged, torn, remnants of satin pillows and cushions hanging, snagged, on the jagged chunks of metal and wall and the balcony outside gone, never to be seen again. "That crash must have been spectacular . . . . . . why did I miss it? Whyyyyyyyyyyyy?" Trigger Happy screamed in dismay.

"Trust me, there really wasn't that much to miss, heh heh - ah, sir," someone interrupted the gremlin. "Hey! Any crash you can't walk away from is a good crash if you ask me," Trigger Happy indignantly, then paused. "Who am I talking to?"

"Oh, sorry. I forgot I was invisible," A glowing blue, grinning ghost appeared out of nowhere, quickly followed by an empty hood and set of bracelets, wielding a scythe. The ghost and set of clothing reunited, so that the ghost was wearing the clothing. "Ah, greetings, sir. I'm Grim Creeper, a pleasure to meet such a famous Skylander as yourself,"

Trigger Happy's eyes widened and his eyebrows shot up to a comical degree, far higher than they should have been able to. "I'm famous? Why didn't anyone tell me? I want my own autograph!"

Grim Creeper frowned, sweatdropping. "Relax, kiddo, he's, ah, always like that. Ya get used tah it," Prism Break advised, thunking him on the back. The reaper stumbled forward at the impact. "Prism Break, right? I am a huge fan! You are an inspiration to people who have been buried everywhere!" Grim Creeper exclaimed in excitement.

"Well, ah'm just glad that ah ain't hated and at least some people laek meh," Prism Break shrugged, casting a stray look at Jet-Vac as he followed the other Cloudbreak Skylanders as they ran towards the docks that the Dread-Yacht was being towed to.

"Eh, don't feel too special. He loves everyone," another, feminine voice interrupted from above them as the Dread-Yacht docked, and a pink sphinx with a golden mask and gemstone-embedded claws leapt down towards them.

"Name's Scratch. Air element rookie. I've heard I'm supposed to be meeting a veteran named, uh," the sphinx quickly snatched a little piece of paper from within her claws. "Whirlwind," she read, before chucking the piece of paper into the empty space of the dock, where it quickly blew away in the wind.

"You're working with Whirlwind, lassie?" Jet-Vac asked in surprise. "You seem like you'd be a much better choice for me," he winked. "Nope, I'm certain it's Whirlwind," Scratch skeptically replied.

"Well," Jet-Vac quickly looked around to make sure Whirlwind wasn't in the vicinity. "I would say I'm the only competent Air Skylander here, so . . ." he suggestively trailed off, while Scratch adopted a sly look. "Oh, you're the _other_ Air veteran, eh? You must be Pop Thorn's mentor,"

"Ah, who's Pop Thorn?" the Sky Baron asked, curious,

"Oh, Pop Thorn? There's someone I want you to meet!" the sphinx cat-called back towards the wrecked Dread-Yacht.

Grim Creeper smiled. "He's in for it now,"

"Who? Ooh, is it my mentor? I'm so excited!" a squeal echoed from the boat and a cyan/yellow blur streaked through mid-air, slamming into Jet-Vac and knocking him to the ground. "You're my mentor? Oh wow, this is so cool! I have a mentor! I have a mentor!"

"Down, Pop Thorn, heel," Scratch commanded, chuckling. "I'm not a dog!" Pop Thorn protested as Jet-Vac finally got a good look at the rookie. "A Pufferthorn?" he gaaped in shock, throwing Pop Thorn off his chest, picking himself up and turning to Cali in anger. "You want me to play teacher to one of the weakest species in Skylands? They're used as living combs, for the love of the Ancients!"

"Yes, and Pop Thorn here is the reason that barbaric practise was stopped," Cali pointed out. "They're still pathetic!" Jet-Vac hotly protested. "Well now it's your job to make this one not pathetic. You might be impressed," Cali snorted. "Now apologise for insulting his species," she commanded.

The Sky Baron groaned. "I'm sorry for insulting you, Pop Thorn," The Pufferthorn promptly jumped towards him, flooring him again. "That's okay, Jet Stream! I forgive you," Pop Thorn excitedly licked Jet-Vac's face. "Jet Stream?" the Skylander spluttered. "Yep! That's my new nickname for you!" the Pufferthorn excitedly chirped.

This was too much for some of the assembled Skylanders, and Roller Brawl, Camo, Scratch, Cali and Pop Fizz burst out laughing, while several others held back guffaws.

X

"You are fricking joking," Terrafin was slack-jawed. Snagglescale had guided him to the river, where his boat was waiting for them. 'Boat', however, was an extremely loose term, as it was essentially a massive horizontal tire with a wooden platform resting on top of it. "Ain't she a beaut?" Snagglescale asked, excited. "No," Terrafin deadpanned.

"Well lemme tell ya something to help ease your concerns, so ta speak," Snagglescale started. "This wee little baby has carried me up, down, left, right and every other direction that the water in this humble, cosy little town has ever flowed, regardless of what the laws of physics have and ever will say about it. And it ain't never sank once. Nope, nada, my baby has never sprung a leak and that's the way it's gonna stay just so long as we make sure that we don't not never ever drift her into any of the eleventy kajillion water bombs drifting on the lake, but I'm sure that with a hefty slice of the choc-o-late cake known as luck bestowed upon us by the lady of luck herself we won't get even a tiny bit exploded, and you can count on that,"

Terrafin snorted. "Lemme get this straight, your brilliant plan to get us to your home is to drive a giant tyre down a river flooded with mines?"

"You got the entire thing in one sentence, like some kinda hole in one in that rich people sport they probably call golf, mm-mium-miu-miu-mede-madaaba," Terrafin had clamped his hand over Snagglescale's mouth, before noticing something in the water. In an instant, he slid down to the riverbank and plucked a piece of metal from the surface of the water. "These are the mines you're worried about?" he asked, smirking. And with good reason, too. The 'mine' had spent so long in the waters of the river that it's metal casing had rusted into oblivion, and the gunpowder within had been soaked to the point of being rendered useless. "This isn't a mine, it's debris! I'm starting to like the tyre idea again, let's cast off!" Terrafin declared, scrambling back up the riverbank and onto the wooden platform mounted atop Snagglescale's giant tyre.

The Dirt Shark lay on his belly and attempted to get comfortable. "Welp, you're the boatman. Wake me up when we get there," he shrugged, closing his eyes. "Now that there, that there attitude is what I is talking about! So let's get a-moving!" Gurglefin declared, shoving off.

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream," the gillman gargled as Terrafin clasped his hands to his ears. "I should not have hitched a boat ride with the infamous Chatty Cabbie," the Dirt Shark lamented. "Dodge the deadly floating mines and try not to explode! Baaargh!" the fish shrieked. Terrafin growled, enough was enough. "Look, a; quit singing before I punch out your vocal cords! B; those mines are so rusty they might as well have been here since the rise of Arkus! Look!" Terrafin stamped on the side of the boat in anger, sending it teetering into one of the rusty, old mines - which promptly exploded, punching a hole in the rubber of the boat. "What the hell?" he gasped. "Hey, lookie here, I-ah told ya that running into them mines was a bad idea, like majorly, seriously bad karma, and now look at that, there's a gosh darn hole in the side of my boat. I am going to bill you for repairs, and you can take that invoice to the grave but I'll still charge you -"

"Put a sock in it!" Terrafin exploded at his cabbie. "Come on, we need to reach the town before we take on too much water and sink!" he continued, summoning a group of microsharks and telepathically instructing them to push the boat forwards faster. "And send the bill to Kaos, he owes me money anyway!"

The dirt shark frantically stamped on the side of the boat, and it tipped a little, but swung far enough to the side to dodge another. His eyes narrowed at the sight of a stone construction a few knots down the river. "What's that thing?"

"Now that right there, my friend, is what we riverfolk call a dam. Funny story, I -"

"I don't give a damn about your funny story, and I also don't give a damn about your dam. How do we get through it?"

"I'm not one hundred and twenty-five percent convinced that going that way is a good idea, I do not like it. I mean, it would be faster to go that way, but if you give me a little while I can find another route that's slower but -"

Yet again, Terrafin interrupted the Gillman. "I don't care. We need to get to the village so I can get in contact with the other Skylanders. Take the faster way,"

"Well, I suppose that if you insist we can go thataway," the Gillman shrugged, steering the boat into the dam. The gates of the sluice-lock slid closed behind them and their vessel. "You sure this thing is safe?" Terrafin asked as the water level began to lower. "Look, as long as there ain't no problem with the internisical workings of the machinery of this here dam, we is going to be one hundred percntaroonay a-okay, and ain't that a fact,"

Terrafin scrutinised the water level. It had stopped lowering. "Snagglescale, the dam's jammed," he retorted. "Well that ain't not nothing to worry about. See that there ladder on the side?" Terrafin followed Snagglescale's webbed finger and looked at a rusty, yet mostly stable-looking ladder on the side. "Just climb up that and pull the lever up the top, that's the emergency override. It'll open the doors three minutes after being pulled, you're gonna have that three minutes to get back down to the boat,"

"Aren't we still pretty high? Won't all the water, like, burst out in a wave and capsize us?" Terrafin skeptically asked. "Have ya seen these doors? Solid stone. Those things'll open slow as a sea snail, the water'll have plenty of time to drain before the gates have opened enough to let us through. There ain't not never gonna be anything to worry about hereabouts,"

"Good enough for me," Terrafin shrugged, carefully jumping in the water and swimming over to the ladder, where he grabbed hold of it and started to climb.

After a moment or so, he put his foot on a rather rusted platform, and it snapped under his foot, causing him to almost slip. The dirt shark staggered, losing his grip and almost falling. "Hell no!" he declared, snatching at the stone, tearing a grip into it and clutching on as he regained his balance. "Frigging hell," he muttered, continuing the climb.

Eventually, he reached the top and climbed onto the small stone platform at the top of the dam. "Nice view," he shrugged, pulling the lever. "Great, now get back down here so we can get a move on!" Snagglescale shouted. The Skylander considered the ladder beneath him and shook his head. "I'm getting down my way," and dived into the stone, burrowing his way through it and emerging at water level. Snagglescale offered him a hand, and he was pulled back into the boat. "Is this thing still sinking?" he questioned as the faint groan of gears reached his ears.

"I would believe so, but I am two hundred and fifty-nine percent sure that as long as we survive what's is beyond this'ere gate right in front of us, we are almost definitively going to make it to my village that is my home before we sink into the river, and even if we do I am eighty-six and a half percentish confident that we will both make it to the shore. This river ain't deep anyway, barely a fathom, you have nothing to worry about,"

"Look, I can't fathom how deep a fathom is, so you'd better be right about that or when we both get to the Underworld I an gonna knock your undead teeth out," Terrafin growled.

"The doors is about to open," Snagglescale reported. "How long will we have to wait for them to fully open?"

In an instant, they swung open, so quickly that they had finished opening before the water could even spill out. But spill out it did, in a sweeping tidal wave that carried the boat at high speed down the lake. "This is a new feature," Snagglescale just had time to comment before the boat lost all stability and was thrown forwards with the crashing wave.

"Do you know how to surf?" Snagglescale off-handedly questioned. "No! We are about to die and that is what you ask me?" Terrafin demanded, staggering and losing his balance as water spray swept over him and the boat alarmingly tilted forwards. "Wells, of course it is. Because then you would be knowing how to balance this thing so that we ain't not going to capsize and get majorly, seriously wet. So if y'all is going to just follow my lead, I is going to make sure we get out of this mess dry!" Snagglescale commanded in a very roundabout way, running to the back of the tire and jumping up and down on it.

"Great. So this is how it ends, huh? Drowned aboard a giant tyre with a lunatic Gillman for company. The shocking thing is that the only part I never expected was the giant tyre," Terrafin groaned as the tyre ricocheted off a rock of some kind, being launched into the air for a second. He was thrown towards the back of the tire by the impact, and would have fallen into the rushing waters - if not for a scaly, webbed hand snatching his wrist.

"Ouch!" Terrafin snapped as his face banged against the edge of the boat, but nodded gratefully to Snagglescale for his rescue, even as the ferocity of the water began to drop. The dirt shark recovered his footing and nodded gratefully to the Gillman. "At least that's over,"

"I wouldn't bet even a single rotten tooth that I's ever knocked out using this 'ere hand," Snagglescale waggled his fingers. "What?" Terrafin questioned, a blank look on his face.

"If my own reckoning, which is the reckoning I has done by myself and with no help from anybody else, whether I know them personally or not, is correct by at least less than a hundred and two-ty nine percent and yet alsimultaneously at least a little bit more than sixty nine and a half's half percent, we is almost definitously about to take what could probably be the downwards elevator over, under and ultimatisticly into, the lower levels of that which sailerfolk call the sea that can't not never ever be sailed on what we are sitting on now, which is being a giant tyre and as a therefore direct result we mighty well oughts ta find a differooning route before -"

"Shut up!" Terrafin shrieked, wheeling around to face the Gillman before pausing. "Whaddya think that sound is?"

"That's is being what I has been trying to warn -"

"Shut up and let me listen!" Terrafin snapped and Snagglescale shut up. "It sounds sort of like, rumbling, like an earthquake, but with water, and rushy, and, uh lemme check something," He sniffed the air. "Yep. I still have no sense of smell," the Dirt Shark sighed.

"Uh, misser Skylander sir, I think that ya should really turn around,"

"Hold it! Hold it. I've almost figured it out!" Terrafin shouted.

Suddenly, the boat dipped. "Too late," Snagglescale moaned. "What? What's going on? Where'd the river go?"

Losing their grip on the fragile wood, the two amphibians shrieked as the boat toppled sideways, and fell off the top of the waterfall.

X

"Ugh! How useless can these things be?" Kaos demanded, bashing his fist on the arms of his throne, glaring at the Greebles. "I can't believe we can't afford any more Trolls. These Greebles are cheap, but useless! Stop reading that book, for crying out loud!" the evil Portal Master demanded, storming over to an idle Greeble and snatching the book out of his hand. "Get back to work on my statue!" he commanded.

They were in a large, ornate throne room. A big screen adorned one wall, with Kaos' throne in front of it. In the centre of the room was a massive stone statue of Kaos. "I still think the bottom part is unnecessary," Glumshanks nervously mumbled from the corner. Sure enough, the statue of Kaos was supported by a statue of Glumshanks, stooped over and supporting the giant stone Kaos on it's back. "It's degrading," he grumbled.

"What's this?" Kaos frowned, looking at the book. "One Hundred Legends of Skylands," He flipped the book open. "Hmm. Legend No. 13, placed there for the number's numerical notoriety. Ooh, evil alliteration. I'm enthralled," he cackled. "The Doom Raiders, the most notorious gang of thieves Skylands has ever seen. Seven in number. Number 7; The Gulper. A massive glob of soda-loving slug. Used by the others as a beatstick, his gelatinous skin can absorb almost any attack. Sounds like a good guy to use as a shield. Number 6: The Chompy Mage. Employed for his ability to see through the eyes of any Chompy in Skylands, his spy network was invaluable to the Doom Raiders. I want to be able to do that. Number 5: Chef Pepper Jack? A chef? Who cares? Like a chef could ever be evil. Number 4: Dreamcatcher. Pssh, a girl. Like a girl could ever be evil. Number 3 . . . . well, this is a nostalgia trip. My old idol, Dr. Krankcase. Renowned for his invention of magical evil wooden dolls, Dr. Krankcase was chosen for the team due to his ability to create infinite armies and his genius as a mad scientist,"

Glumshanks frowned. Something was beeping on the control panel. "Uh, sir?"

"Quiet, Glumshanks!" Kaos barked. "Number 2 . . . ." he trailed off. "Wolfgang? Who the hell is Wolfgang? Some punk-rocker werewolf? He's a villainous mercenary who is an unmatched fighter . . . . and musician? What in Skylands? Who has time for music in evil? Ugh, these Doom Raiders sound like they're half awesome villains and half complete wusses. Let's check out number 1," Kaos flipped the page. "Golden Queen? An Egyptian pharaoh-ess with an insatiable love of gold and world domination? Sounds like my kind of girl, huh Glumshanks?"

"You are perverted beyond belief, sir," Glumshanks sighed. "And don't you forget it," Kaos snorted. "The Doom Raiders, one of the most formidable and malevolent teams in the history of Skylands. Where are they now? Nobody knows, but it is rumoured that they are locked up inside the legendary Cloudcracker Prison. For more information, see Legend #59: The Terrors of Traptanium," Kaos read aloud. "I'm going to Legend #59," he cackled in glee.

"Uh, sir?" Glumshanks interrupted. "What?" Kaos snapped, before going slack-jawed at the sit of what was on the screen. "So nice to see that my own son is more interested in old fairytales than his own mother," the woman on the screen snorted in derision.

The lilting, soothing drawl came from Kaos' mother, who was on screen. She was tall, thin and had spindly limbs, her body was cloaked in a black cape, embroidered with amethyst crystals and her hair was done up in nets with the same crystals sewn into them, making them look like devil horns. Kaos groaned in annoyance, carelessly throwing the book over his shoulder.

"Please, children's books hardly matter. Sooner or later, brother, all fall to Darkness. Lights out," chuckled a teenage-size dragon who was sitting on a navy-and-silver cushion that matched his bodily colouration, added, flicking his tail like a cat. His scales were a deep navy blue colour, and his horns, spines, wings and tail-tip were a glistening silver. He had a rotund, vaguely humanoid head, similar to Spyro, but with slightly more of a muzzle. Aside from the altered colours, he physically looked extremely similar to the purple dragon.

Kaos' mother rubbed the dragon between his wing joints, in just the place he loved. "I knew creating you would be a good idea. Darkus, you're like the son I never had,"

Kaos, who had been muttering angrily to himself at the intrusion, looked up in shock. "You had a son! I'm your son!"

His mother looked at him disdainfully. "I meant a son I was actually at all proud of. You failed to take over Skylands two hundred times! You're lucky I haven't disowned you,"

"What? That's not even possible! I've only even tried to take over Skylands a hundred and forty-seven times! And I know, I've been keeping a log," At this, the small Runt angrily brandished a small brown book that had appeared from nowhere. Darkus snorted, amused, and vanished in a puff of smoke. "Er, where'd he go?" Kaos frowned. The next thing he knew, the book had been snatched from his hands by Darkus, who had magically appeared behind him,

"This is the 'All-inclusive Girl's Diary and Guide to Everything in your Teenage Years'. Features a sewing kit, Whirlwind's Guide to Gossip, Flashwing's Guide to Finding the Perfect Date Outfit and a wall-length poster of Flameslinger, the hottest elf in Skylands - without a shirt. Brother, I doubt you could be more pathetic if you tried," Darkus read the cover, snorting at Kaos.

"I'm not your brother!" Kaos shouted in Darkus's face, before storming way. "Sure. Ta-ta, brother dear," Darkus winked, before vanishing as quickly as he had arrived. Glumshanks turned off the connection and Kaos' mother's face vanished from the screen.

"Blasted mother - and blasted dragon! They think they can just come in here and just take control of everything! Unbelieveable!" Kaos burst out in anger, seething about the state of affairs with his mother and that dragon. The infuriating thing was, Darkus wasn't even a real dragon! Proper dragons, despite their reptilian appearance, were warm-blooded, but that monstrosity was cold-blooded. Like a snake! And he was basically a pure evil version of Spyro, Kaos' sworn enemy! Darkus had literally been created using DNA from the same species of dragon that Spyro belonged to, warped and perverted into the creation of that monstrosity! It was infuriating! "He just infuriates me so much! Infuriates!"

"Master, if you're done seething, your mother's called back," Glumshanks gestured to the screen. A vein pulsed in Kaos' neck. "Decline the call and block her number!"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Okay, I made a pretty big mistake with this chapter and the last - I mixed up my Gillmen. XD Snagglescale was the Gillman who takes you down the river in Mudwater Hollow - which is obviously where Terrafin is - but I got him mixed up with Gurglefin from way back in Spyro's Adventure. I have made the necessary changes with this update, but if I missed anything let me know.**

 **"Okay, there is something VERY important I have to say to you all . . . . . . . Er, sorry, but I forgot it," XD**

 **Is there anything important to say?**

 **"Not that I can think of. Pe-"**

 **{clamps hand over her beak}**

 **Peace! Yes!**


	6. Fish To Fry

Chapter 6: Fish to Fry

"What the hell?" Terrafin spluttered. "Hey now, dontcha go blaminizing anything on me. I dids try to warn you that we was about to go over a gosh darn waterfall, but you would not never listen, no you just kept on keepin' on shushin' and shushing me, and now mah boat has been smashed into a bazillion and one pieces, you is one hundred and eleventy-six percent going to pay for that," Snagglescale accused.

They were standing on the riverbank, a little way downstream from the waterfall. The boat had gone over and smashed. It had already sustained damage from the mines, and the impact with the water a hundred feet below smashed it to pieces. They had both falledn into the water and made it to shore.

"Whatever. We'll talk about that when we're back in civilisation," Terrafin brushed him off. "Come on, we're not gonna get anywhere if we don't get moving," he beckoned, starting to walk along the riverbank. "Nuh uh uh, I am not moving, I repeat that I am not moving from this here spot until I get my compensation, and that is a gosh darn fact that you can take with you, my legs will not budge and you cannot make them," Snagglescale retorted, placing his hands on his hips and jutting his chin out. Terrafin frowned for a second in thought, then smiled and shrugged. "I can work with that,"

X

"We need a ship," Sprocket decided. "What about the Dread-Yacht? Why can't we use that?" a being that was essentially a bomb with a face, with a robotic body attached to the bottom questioned. This was Countdown, the rookie assigned to Sprocket as her trainee. Sprocket frowned, cocked an eyebrow and gestured to the damaged ship, moored between two large branches that made up part of the Woodburrow docks, from the small cabin that they were using as a workshop. "You think that's gonna fly?"

Countdown turned and gasped at the sight of the Dread-Yacht. "What happened to the ship?!" he gasped, eyes wide, before pausing. "Oh, wait, I remember, Flynn crashed it. Right, heh heh," he nervously chuckled under Sprocket's patronising glare. "I, uh, have memory issues," he despondently shrugged.

Sprocket facepalmed and sighed. "I know, you told me that three times today already,"

"I did? Oh, uh, I forgot," Countdown shrugged, wincing. The Golding groaned. "This is gonna be a long two weeks," she muttered in irritation.

"We do need to get the Dread-Yacht fixed, right?" Countdown asked for clarification. "Yes!" Sprocket exclaimed.

"You get used to it. Trust me, I shared a school with him for the last half a year," Roller Brawl commented as she passed by. "Shouldn't you be with your mentor?" Sprocket questioned. "Cynder needs, ah, alone time," Roller Brawl shrugged nonchalantly. "Hope she's okay,"

Sprocket nodded in agreement. "Shouldn't you be more worried about her? Her boyfriend's reused his lead!" Countdown exclaimed.

"I think you mean presumed dead," Roller Brawl chuckled, then her smile slid off her face. "Oh dear. Spyro?! Dead?!"

"Wait, her boyfriend's Spyro? SPYRO! He can't be dead!" Countdown exclaimed, then paused. "Er, sorry but, who's Spyro again?"

Sprocket groaned. "I'm going to find a ship. There has to be something sky-worthy in this place,"

X

"One hundred and twenty-nine bottles of beer on the wall, one hundred and twenty-nine bottles of beer!" Snagglescale sang from where Terrafin was carrying him on his shoulders. The Gillman had been so annoyed that Terrafin was carrying him with little effort and wanted to make the journey harder for him in retaliation for the destruction of his boat. And everyone knew that Gillmen all had terrible singing voices.

"Stop that," Terrafin groaned. "You take one down and pass it around, one hundred and twenty-eight bottles of beer on the wall!" Snagglescale continued defiantly.

X

Spyro smiled in weary relief. "Huh. It's been so long that I've practically forgotten what a village that isn't being attacked by evil is like,"

Folding his wings, he glided down to the dock and landed on the creaky, damp planks of the small pier. He had arrived at the small village, which seemed to be inhabited by Gillmen. "Nice place, for a swamp," Spyro smiled, as despite the ramshackle appearance of the buildings the Gillmen inhabiting them really seemed to be having a good time. Confident, he approached one. "Excuse me, would you mind if I borrowed your phone? I need to call my friends," he requested.

"Why sure, matey. The community phone is right aboutsa thataways, therexactly within themsa sheriff's officearooney," the Gillman pointed to a ramshackle building, and Spyro nodded his thanks, moving in the direction of the building, while a pair of eyes watched him move from the shadows of a nearby tavern.

A voice whispered into a device, "Smasher to Thunderstorm. This is Smasher. I have eyes on the target. Over,"

"Copy that. I'll tell Miasma to keep an eye open. We can't let those other bozos beat us to this one," the walkie-talkie replied in a distorted, untraceable voice. "Wish me luck. I don't think I'm alone," the voice whispered.

X

Snagglescale continued to sing. "Seventy-two bottles of beer on the wall, seventy-two bottles of beer!"

"Please, for the love of all things under the Dirt Seas, stop that!" Terrafin begged. "Hey, look on the bright side, Skylandawatjimacallit. there's only roundabout seventy-one bottles of beer left to go,"

"I really wish I'd died in that crash. The Underworld's great this time of year according to Fright Rider," Terrafin moaned.

X

Cynder blinked as her phone rang and she spotted the caller ID. "Gillmen Swamps Protection Association, Mudwater Hollow Branch? Why are they calling me?" Regardless, she picked up and, shocked, felt faint at the sound of her boyfriend's voice. "Cynder? This is a bad line, can you hear me?"

The dragoness screamed. "Spyro! We thought you were dead!"

"Well that's just insulting," the purple dragon smirked. "It'll take more than a little aircraft crash to kill me,"

"Is Terrafin with you?" Cynder demanded. "Nope, we got separated. But I'm certain he's fine, if I survived that crash no way he didn't,"

"Hmm. I'll tell the others to send a ship to pick you up from Mudwater Hollow," Cynder nodded. "Hopefully he'll be back by then," she added. "Got it. Hopefully," Spyro repeated. "Love you. Bye," and Cynder could just hear the dragon's cocky smirk.

Spyro put the battered old phone back on it's receiver and turned to the Gillman lounging behind a desk that looked just as much like it was made out of driftwood as the rest of the beaten-up old town. "Thanks, Sheriff," he nodded. "Well, that's a pleasure to be a-helpin' out a Skylanderooney like yourself, matey. Toodleoo!" the sheriff yawned and waved as the purple dragon left the building.

"There's gotta be something to do around here," Spyro frowned, looking around. Gillmen waved at the sight of him, and the dragon paused at the sight of a hulking, large, moss-green Boghog being lead on a leash by a Gillman farmer, but shrugged it off as another of the many oddities of Skylands' individual regions. An indistinguishable silhouette flattened themselves behind the curve of the roof of a nearby building, and Spyro saw nothing there, but his sight was caught by something glinting off the sunlight over near a pier.

Out of boredom and curiosity, the dragon ran over to the pier, which looked rather ramshackle, but drew up at the edge of the rotten planks of wood. "That looks a little dangerous," the dragon frowned, and squinted at the object lying, abandoned, at the edge of the pier. It was some kind of small, purple crystal that was long and prismatic, like a miniature version of a laser reflector. "Purple. That's the magic element colour. That could make a nice necklace or something . . and Cynder does like amethyst," Spyro smiled.

He looked down at the damaged driftwood, and gingerly pressed a paw to it. Nothing happened. "I think that'll hold my weight," he breathed, carefully stepping onto the jetty. Sure enough, despite it's appearance, it held. One step after another, careful not to put weight on the wrong areas, Spyro crossed the planks.

After a few moments, he was within touching distance of the crystal.

X

Underwater, a ball of energy flickered into existence. "This is why they say I'm dangerous," a voice hissed, and the blast streaked through the water.

X

"Thirty-eight bottles of beer on the wall, thirty-eight bottles of beer! You take one down and pass it around, thirty-seven bottles of beer on the wall!" Snagglescale boisterously crowed. "SHUT UP!" Terrafin shouted, throwing him off his shoulders and yelling at him. "I have sat through two hundred and twenty-six bottles of beer and I'll be damned if I'm gonna sit through the last thirty-seven!" the Dirt Shark yelled.

"Well, you can't stop me and no half-decent Skylander would abandon a civilian in the middle of nowhere. So ya stuck with me," Snagglescale smirked.

The Skylander facepalmed. "Get on,"

X

An instant before Spyro could touch the prism, one of the rickety pillars supporting the jetty flew up into the sky, away from it's brethren. "What the . . . ." Spyro trailed off ad the planks he stood on began to collapse away from each other, smashing into the lake. The crystal rolled away and landed in the water, vanishing amongst the foam and spray, but the purple dragon had bigger problems as the pier collapsed underfoot. The planks splintered as the force and lack of support echoed through them, no longer able to support their own weight, and Spyro frantically backed up as the jetty collapsed into the lake.

But one wrong step sent an echoing crack through the structure, and with a large crack, the entire jetty collapsed into the lake and took Spyro with it.

X

"Twenty-two bottles of bear on the wall, twenty-two bottles of beer!" Snagglescale sung with a smirk. "You take one down and pass it around, twenty-one bottles of beer on the wall!"

Terrafin groaned, then his face lit uo at the sight of something in the distance. "A town! Thank god!" With that, he flung Snagglescale from his back, and the Gillman crashed to the ground a few feet away. "That's for two hundred and forty-one bottles of beer, you half-baked piece of cod! See ya!" And the Dirt Shark jubilantly abandoned his burden and positively skipped towards the town. "And I only had twenty bottles to go," Snagglescale moaned.

A/N

 **A/N**

 **'Thunderstorm', 'Smasher' and 'Miasma' are all canon characters using codenames too. I'm really trying to tone down OCs as opposed to canon characters. If you're smart, you'll be able to figure out who they are.**

 **Poor Terrafin, sitting through Snagglescale's singing. But Spyro might have bigger fish to fry . . . .**

 **And I am so sorry that I took so long to update, there was this thing where I lost a bit of my work and didn't want to post until it was reclaimed. And I also know that this chapter is a little short, but I wanted to prove I'M NOT DEAD! Peace!**


	7. Blowing the Top

Ch. 7: Blowing The Top

A craft swerved above the swamps, and it's occupant frantically scanned the waters below from the cockpit. "Come on, where is he? I can't afford to fail at this!" they exclaimed.

X

Linagarnix yawned. "Oh, waiting for the Cloudbreak Volcano to erupt is so boring,"'she moaned. "I know, right, mum?" Darkus agreed, settling himself on her lap like an overgrown cat. "There isn't even anything good on TV right now!" he added, and Linagarnix allowed herself a fond smile. "Well, I suppose we could allow ourselves a little pleasure. How about we send out your large friend and, ahem, test the mettle of that Skylander group dedicated to protecting the Cloudbreak Volcano?" she suggested, looking down at her adopted son. Darkus nodded. "Isn't it a bit early? I thought we weren't getting rid of those freaks until the day before the volcano erupted," he pointed out.

She shook her head. "If we attack them now, and tell her to take one or two of them hostage, it rattles them. They'll be scared and in shock, and probably angry too. And when someone's angry they don't think straight - who knows, if we're lucky all fifteen of them will all abandon the volcano and go looking for whoever goes missing,"

Darkus smirked. "And when they do, it'll be lights out for their precious volcano. Still, maybe sending her isn't the best idea,"

"You know how she gets when she goes too long without shedding blood. Frankly, letting her take her bloodlust out on those Swap pawns might be the best course," Linagarnix tutted.

"But if we do that then we reveal her existence too early. It'll be best to wait until we're delivering the parcel to the volcano, then the Skylanders won't know what to expect from our resident shadow dragoness. We should send Peacock," her dragon son argued, and the Dark Portal Master nodded. "Peacock isn't very bright, though," she frowned. "He might forget to take a hostage,"

"So we let Mesmeralda go with him to pull his strings. Look, it's Peacock and Mesmeralda or Mr. Vampire Cat's Arkeyan monstrosity - and I'd honestly rather keep our ace in the hole where the Skylanders can't see it," Darkus snorted. "Very well, dear. I trust you can brief them on the mission?" his mother requested. "Oh, trust me, I'll make sure they understand," Darkus smirked.

X

Spyro thrashed in the water. "Hey! Help! Someone get me out of the water! I can't swim!" the dragon shouted, panicking. Frantically, he tried to grab at a plank of wood, but it fell to pieces in his hands. "This is what you get for building a town out of driftwood!" he raged at Gillmen in general.

"Spyro?" a familiar voice exclaimed. "Is that . . . ?" Spyro paused, which he immediately regretted as he began to sink, and continued to thrash and snatch at anything within reach, closing his eyes to keep the dirty water out of them.

A loud splash alerted him to someone else arriving and strong arms snatched up his wiry, thin frame and flung him to shore. Spyro winced as he hit the ground, raised his forelegs and wiped the muck from his eyes. A firm hand clapped him on the back, and he winced as he looked up at Terrafin's maw. "Good to see ya, bud," the shark nodded. "Terrafin. Nice to see you're still alive," Spyro smirked. "This boxer's aways ready to go another round and don't you forget it!" Terrafin glared, a smile playing at the edges of his lips.

"Good to have the backup . . . ," Spyro trailed off. "Do you ever get the feeling like you're being watched?"

Several metres behind them, a silhouetted, hidden figure's eyes widened as they heard this and ducked into a doorway.

"Eh, sometimes. Usually I beat the snot out of some evil guys and the feeling goes away," Terrafin shrugged. Spyro matched his expression. "Probably. Still . . . ," On impulse he looked around. "That jetty didn't collapse for no reason," he frowned, searching for their unknown aggressor.

"Er, Spyro, what's that?" Terrafin sweatdropped, looking up into the sky. Spyro's expression rapidly mirrored his own at the thought of something else happening to them. Some kind of craft was slowly descending from the heavens, and Spyro's face lit up in eagerness as he breathed a sigh of relief. "You weren't here when we went to Arkus, were you?" he asked, curious. "Nope?" Terrafin frowned, wondering where Spyro was going with this.

"That's Flynn's Arkeyan Copter!" Spyro grinned. "The others must have sent it to pick us up!" he continued, and Terrafin cracked a grin as the copter landed in the middle of the plaza.

The cockpit swung open and glowing blue eyes peered out at the two Skylanders. "Oh, uh, heh . . . you're Spyro, right? The guy who's supposed to be my mentor . . . . right?" Star Strike asked, nervous beyond belief.

"Who the bloody hell are you?" Terrafin frowned. Spyro cuffed his waist with his forepaw. "She's one of Cali's rookies, you big lug!"

X

"Uh, excuse me? Mrs. Skylander trainer woman?" Cali looked up from her notes to see a young kitsune peering anxiously over the desk she was working on, flicjing her tail ansent-mindedly. "Oh, uh, who are you?" Cali asked politely.

"Name's Tessa. I'm the Chieftess' granddaughter and one of her closest advisors," the fox girl brightly grinned. "So, uh, she asked me to ask you if you could send a team of Skylanders to take care of a problem that's sprung up in the eastern section of Cloudbreak,"

"Problem, huh? Well, lay it on me, fox girl, because the BOOM is back in action!" a cocky, confident voice interrupted the two girls and Cali groaned. "You know, I really hoped he'd stay unconscious a little while longer," she muttered to herself.

Tessa looked over, curious, to see a barrel-chested, tall Mabu dressed in a pilot's jacket, navigation goggles and a red scarf. "The name's Captain Flynn," the Mabu struck a pose, hands on hips and front foot on a small stack of books. "And I'm the real hero 'round these parts," he winked.

"Oh, brother," Cali facepalmed, but Tessa was enthralled. "Are you one of the Skylanders? she asked, her eyes wide and tail quivering in excitement. "Nope. But I'm probably even better. Who do you think gets the Skylanders where they need to go during a crisis?"

"Our Portal Masters?" Cali skeptically remarked. The pilot, though, had paused, thinking. "Aren't you the one who made me fly my ship into that volcano?" he commented, squinting at the kitsune's face. Tessa's eyes somehow widened even further. "You were flying that? That's incredible! Those Greebles were all like, 'We're gonna get you now!' And you were just like, 'No way, jose! Boom! Ka-blam! Eat my dust, suckers!" she pantomimed, grinning in crazed excitement.

Flynn grinned but tried - and failed - to be modest. "Well, the Skylanders helped too - I mean, of course, I did most of the work, but they deserve at least five percent of the credit," he shrugged amicably. Cali muttered to herself darkly. "No way, all they did was beat up boarders. They only get three percent," Tessa retorted with a smirk. Flynn's grin grew wider. "Finally, someone who really gets me!" he grinned, raising nis palm for a high-five. Tessa accepted eagerly, and two furry palms slapped against each other.

"So, what's this big crisis? I'm sure I can handle it," Flynn confidently smirked. "A tribe of Amazoness trolls have invaded Fantasm Forest and we need to drive them off!" Tessa explained.

"No problem . . . ." Flynn trailed off in confusion as the full implications of this sunk in. "Wait . . . . there are female trolls?"

X

"Hey! Hey Spy Rise! What do you get when you cross the Queen of Clubs with a footballer?" Freeze Blade giggled. The Tech Swapper moaned. "I don't know, and I don't really care either," he retorted.

"I don't know, Freeze Blade. What _do_ you get when you cross the Queen of Clubs with a footballer?" Boom Jet smirked. "A playing card!" Freeze Blade exclaimed, and they both burst into fits of laughter. "Ooh, ooh, I got another one!" Boom Jet added and Spy Rise groaned. "What do you get when you cross the Queen of Clubs with, the _referee_?" Boom Jet asked in excitement.

"I don't know, Boom Jet, what do you get when you cross the Queen of Clubs with the referee?" Freeze Blade asked, curious. "A _red_ card!" Boom Jet replied, and the two Swap Force Skylanders fell about laughing again. "But the Queen of Clubs is black," Spy Rise moaned.

"That sounds kinda racist," a firm hand clapped him on the shoulder, and Spy Rise turned to see Grilla Drilla with a wry smile on his face. "You have to admit, it's kinda cute how immature they always are," he pointed out.

"You also have to admit it's kinda annoying!" Spy Rise exclaimed in addition, glaring at his teammates. "We're supposed to be here on a mission, not to laugh and giggle like - like rookie schoolgirls! he exclaimed in exasperation.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to see Boom Jet nodding in agreement. "You're right. We're on a mission. We should be focusing," Spy Rise was surprised. He never would have expected this from Boom Jet of all people. The Skysurfer was usually first to laugh at whatever gag Freeze Blade concocted. "How about this. You get up into those trees, look around and stretch out that web. Because you _really_ need to get that stuck-up pole out of your butt!" he exclaimed, bursting out laughing, and was rapidly joined by Freeze Blade. Grilla Drilla tried to refrain but couldn't help chuckling.

Spy Rise slapped Boom Jet's hand away. "Fine, I see how it is. Excuse me for being the only one who gives a damn that people could be dying because of whatever this alert was caused by. I guess I'll just sit in a tree and save the day while you all laugh at me and my posterior!" he exploded, a seething maelstrom of bitterness. The Spyder smirked at the fact that his teammates had been stunned into silence, before firing his grappling gun into the canopy of the trees above and grappling away.

Boom Jet gazed after Spy Rose in shock, before looking at Grilla Drilla. "Dude, I think you _broke_ him," he whispered in shock.

Spy Rise seethed as he perched on a branch, glaring down at his fellow SWAP Force Skylanders. "I'm sick of it," he moaned, turning away and looking up at the sky. "I suppose I should see if anyone's around that might attack us," the Swapper sighed, clapping a hand to his head. "I mean, me or them," he corrected himself.

Flicking down his visor, he scanned the surrounding skies. "Hot-air balloon, island, airship, dragon, airship, island, pirate ship," he muttered to himself out loud as he saw the items.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," he finally decided, flicking his visor back onto his forehead. "Light, how to get back to the others?" he paused, squinting down into the canopy beneath him - when he heard the distinctive ' _crack_ ' of a tree falling in the forest. "What was that?" Spy Rise questioned, glaring towards the offending tree, which had collapsed to the ground. But, as another tree was knocked to the ground by the roots, a hole was cleared in the foliage enough for Spy Rise to get a look at the offending jumberjack.

And, not too far away, a pair of reptilian eyes narrowed and a tongue licked scaly lips. "Peacock," a voice hissed in grim satisfaction.

A/N

 **A/N**

 **I have decided to start trying to respond to reviews, so here goes.**

 **FYI, LiteFox, I can see why you thought the codenames might relate to the Swappies. Miasma could easily mean Stink Bomb, Thunderstorm could be Free Ranger, and Smasher could be Rubble Rouser . . . I confirm or deny nothing, but emphasise the COULD. But there are a couple of little hinters in the chapter that you might have missed . . . . Keep all the eyes you want on me, it won't make any difference. But notice how neither Free Ranger, Stink Bomb or Rubble Rouser were present when Spy Rise blew his top.**

 **Samjax, I fully intend to keep it getting better. I did recently change the genres from Adventure/Mystery to Mystery/Humour - mostly because I realised there's not much adventure but humour will likely be commonplace - so, yeah. :)**

 **Best OC Maker, I don't know how much you know about dragon flight but for Spyro to take off he would have needed to jump up - which I doubt anyone can do without solid ground to stand on - and be able to extend his wings and straighten out his tail. There was collapsing wood all around him, he didn't have enough room to take off.**

 **Sparkbutt, where the hell are you? XD**

 **FYI, everyone, the Swappers are mostly minor characters - at present, nothing is set in stone - and I really don't want to spend ages fleshing out their characters anyway. So, if you've read LiteFox' Trek - which is epic, BTW - just think of the Swappers here as being essentially the same as they are there.**

 **Next chapter, we have a cameo approaching from a certain character from Trap Team. Brownie points if anyone can guess who!**

 **And I added the part where Tessa meets Flynn properly after realising that this chapter was a little short, plus I was talking to 'the infamous Julie' and, another friend of mine who goes by TSC-002 (or 'Tisk') online, about why we've never seen a female troll. So my psycho bestie cane up with the idea that there's a troublesome tribe of Amazoness trolls somewhere in Skylands, and . . . . . I just had to use that! Plus, Flessa FTW! XD**

 **Also, I noticed I forgot to add a small passage to the end of the previous chapter about Terrafin celebrating being able to ditch Gurglefin, so, go check that out if you feel like it.**

 **Next chapter - yes, out of boredom and interest, another new thing I have decided to try is revealing the demo name of the next chapter in the Author's Note ipof every chapter I post. Keep in mind that these are subject to change as I write and there are no guarantees that what I reveal here will be in any way accurate. Anyhoo. Next chapter; Crock and Roll!**

 **Peace! And goodnight - seriously, it's 10pm here as I write this. I'll upload it in the morning, night Skylands!**


	8. Crock and Roll

Ch. 8: Crock and Roll

Spy Rise grappled in concern through the treetops like a mechanical Spiderman. "What the hell was that thing?" he lamented. "It looked kind of like a Greeble, but . . . . what the hell kind of Greeble was that?" he continued in shock, descending to a halt near the felled trees.

A thundering, horrifying roar echoed through the massive foliage the Spyder was clambering through. He winced and pointed his grappling hook upwards without even looking. "That sounded way too close for comfort," he breathed. "Time to get the eye in the sky,"

The grappling hook embedded itself into the bark of a tree above him, and he activated the reeling mechanisms, pulling himself from the ground and into the branches of the foliage above.

Of course, what he didn't expect was that he hit something. Something that fell backwards and started cursing with all the colours of the rainbow. "What exactly do ya think ya playin' at, matey?" Something finally demanded.

Spy Rise looked over and saw a blue anthropomorphic crocodile armed with a thick, strong-looking bow and a quiver of arrows slung over his back. "You were in my way," he blinked in surprise as the crocodile picked himself up. "Oh, for the love of albino cheese, tell me ya ain't concussed," he groaned.

Spy Rise paused, rubbing his head. "Nope, I'm fine. Just about what you'd expect from thr only competent Skylander in the SWAP Force," he growled to himself.

The crocagator grinned. "Skylander, eh? Man, that takes me back. So this is the sort of guy that makes the cut these days," he frowned, then smirked. "Eh, as long as you can kick bad guy butt, guess it's good enough for me. Name's Snap Shot, ex-Skylander. Nice to meet ya,"

Spy Rise blinked. "Spy Rise," the Spyder introduced himself, then paused. "Ex-Skylander? I didn't know anyone quit the Skylanders,"

"Usually we don't. But ah just couldn't resist the thrill of the hunt," Snap Shot winked, snatching an arrow from his quiver, nocking it and drawing it back in a second. "I'm a hunter born and bred, mate. And I'm on the trail of a real prime beaut, so back off," the crocagator commanded, brandishing his bow and arrow.

Spy Rise thought back to the sight of the trees being felled by the roots, and frowned. "Sorry, but based on what I've seen your 'beaut'," he made sarcastic finger quotes, "is a public menace and that makes it Skylander business," he retorted.

The huntsman snorted. "How's about this, then? We team up to take my Peacock down. I get mah baby back and you get your menace out of the way. Deal?" he offered, raising his hand for a handshake.

Spy Rise nodded. "You can't be worse than the last nutjobs I was stuck with," he agreed, and shook the offered hand. "So what are we up against?"

Snap Shot paused, scratching the back of his neck. "Uh, hows about I just show ya?"

X

"Are you sure this thing is safe?" Flynn asked Tessa, clinging to her shoulders in nervousness.

The Mabu pilot and the kitsune heiress were perched atop Whiskers, a large bird that Tessa had raised from an egg and was her closest friend and companion. Flynn was extremely panicked. Tessa light-heartedly elbowed him. "Come on, you said you were the greatest pilot in all Skylands! Surely this isn't too much for the amazing Captain Flynn!"

Flynn paused. There was no trace of sarcasm in the kitsune's voice and she seemed to whole-heartedly believe what she was saying. "Well, when you put it like that, I guess I can force myself to grin and bear it. Just a little more used to something with propellers, or doors," Flynn shrugged, carefully letting go of Tessa and outstretching his arms, feeling the wind on his fur. "Hey, this is actually pretty nice. I think I get the appeal," he grinned. "Now that's the greatest pilot in all Skylands talking. Ka-blam!" Tessa grinned. "Y'now, it might be a long flight," she suggested a moment later. "Soooooo?" Flynn gestured for her to continue. "So, I'm sure that the greatest pilot in all of Skylands has some legendary tales to share,"

Flynn nodded, thinking. "Hmm. Have you ever heard of the time that I piloted a stolen Arkeyan Copter through the sewers of the Lost City of Arkus to prevent an army of giant robots from invading Skylands?"

"Flynn, I, uh, live in the backwoods. I've, never heard of anything," Tessa awkwardly responded. "Well, let me tell ya all about it. I was at the helm of the controls. Sure, there were Skylanders manning the cannons, but I was in the driver's seat - actually, there were no seats. I had to stand up and fly, those Arkeyans are crazy! Anyway," Flynn rambled, completely ignoring the awestruck looks Tessa was casting him.

X

"What the hell is that thing?" Spy Rise breathed. "That there's Peacock. My beaut. Ugly li'l blighter, eh?" Snap Shot smirked, clapping his temporary teammate on the back again. The Spyder barely felt it, gazing at the monster beneath them.

It almost resembled a massive dragon with hunched shoulders and a small, squat head with protruding, Greeble ears. It had fleshy pink skin, with patchy scales at random on it's body. Thick, ungainly wings were folded on it's back, and it's thick, stumpy tail had a spiky club on the end. It's eyes were dull and grey, it had extra eyes on it's shoulders, the base of it's wings, and it's tail, and a crown of purple crystals were atop it's head. "Petrified Darkness," Spy Rise cursed. "You mean that stuff?" Snap Shot gestured at the crystalline crown. "Yup. It's an illegal substance. After a syndicate of trolls took over Linagarnix' old mines and started selling the stuff on the black market, the entire Skylander corps have been tracking down the victims of it's influence,"

"Victims?" Snap Shot frowned. "Petrified Darkness evilises things. It basically makes anything it touches stronger and eviler. Any tinpot tyrant could use it to create an army. That's why it's such a problem for us. And it's not fussy about whether whatever it hits WANTS to be evilised or not," the Spyder explained.

"So that's what they did to my Peacock. Light, the nerve of some people," Snap Shot muttered darkly to himself. "How do we get rid of it?"

Spy Rise nodded. "By applying spontaneous pressure at the crystals, we create a reverbe-"

"In layman's terms, techie?" Snap Shot interrupted. Spy Rise decided to coin a term that the other SWAPlanders often used. "We pone on it and it goes back to normal," Snap Shot nodded, understanding. "Why didn't ya just say that?"

"The same reason I'm not with my team right now. Sheer obnoxiousness," Spy Rise muttered to himself. "You sound kinda like my old friend Gear Shift," the hunter mused, nut shrugged. "Eh, let's have at it, then. Crock and roll, mate!" he shouted, snatching Spy Rise by the arm and shooting an arrow that trailed a thick cord into the canopy. "Whoa, wait, what are you -" Once again, Spy Rise was cut off as his comrade wrapped the rope around his wrist and, with a quick tug to make sure it was tight, leapt from his perch in the arc of a giant pendulum.

Dragging the unfortunate Spy Rise with him.

X

"So, I'm going to be your mentor for the next fortnight, then," Spyro said. It wasn't a question.

"Yeah," Star Strike nodded nervously, trailing off. "I'm, uh," Once again, she failed to complete her sentence.

"Can't even finish a sentence, how the hell is she gonna make the cut?" Terrafin muttered to himself in irritation.

"How long until we reach the rendezvous point?" Spyro asked, attempting to take charge. "We'll be at Woodburrow in an hour or so," Star Strike replied, checking a readout dial. "What's Woodburrow at nine in the morning?" Terrafin folded his arms in irritation.

"The same thing it is any other time of day," the cloaked magician frowned. "A town inhabited by kitsunes that the Chieftess and her granddaughter Tessa said we could use as a temporary base as long as we're staying in Cloudbreak," she elaborated.

"Whaddya know, she can finish a sentence after all," Terrafin muttered, and Spyro glared at him. "Everybody else is already there," Star Strike added. "Why aren't we staying with the permanent detachment of Skylanders that live at Cloudbreak?" the dragon asked his trainee, and Star Strike obediently replied, "The SWAP Force? Their HQ is barely big enough for the sixteen of them. There's no way it would fit forty-eight Skylanders,"

"How'd ya figure forty-eight?" Terrafin asked, bemused. "The sixteen members of the SWAP Force, the sixteen Cloudbreak Skylanders and the sixteen rookies. Sixteen times three equals forty-eight," Star Strike recited. "Uh, yeah, I knew that," he sweatdropped.

"Cali gave me the teacher's pet, didn't she?" Spyro whispered to Terrafin. "Only the best for the famed leader of the Skylanders," the Dirt Shark smirked.

"Uh, sir?" Star Strike nervously asked. "Yeah?" her mentor looked over at her from the back of the cockpit. "We're about to collide with a giant bird,"

X

"And right as the massive energy pulse was about to blow me into smithereens," Flynn whooped, getting far too caught up in the moment of his overdramatisation, but cut himself off. "Uh, Tessa, you might want to turn around and look where we're flying!" he gasped, pointing at the Arkeyan Copter bearing down on them. "Tessa, Tessa, pull up!" Flynn shouted. "What! How! I-" Tessa suddenly slumped in his arms. "Oh crap," Flynn gasped.

In panic, he blindly snatched at Whisker's reins with one hand as the bird shrieked in concern and he frantically grasped Tessa's limp form in the other. "Hold on tight, foxy lady," he commanded, pulling the leather upwards. Whisker instinctively ducked down, skimming underneath the copter with inches to spare, and plunging into a steep dive. "Oh no. Tessa! Wake up!" the pilot shouted, lightly slapping her in the face.

The kitsune softly groaned. "Greatest pilot," she sleepily drooled, "in Skylands,"

Flynn paused. "She's right," He strapped his goggles on. "What kind of greatest pilot in Skylands can't even control some oversized chicken?" And with that, he leaned back and pulled on the straps of Whisker's harness, forcing the animal to pull up with all it's might. But after a moment, he spotted a mountain peak looming in front of him. "Oh no, hard left, hard left!" Flynn commanded Tessa's bird, who responded in kind, twisting ninety degrees and scraping past the mountain peak. Which caused Tessa to slip from his grasp and start to fall.

"No!" Flynn shouted, leaning across and reaching out with his free hand, still clutching the rein in the other. His hand found Tessa's slim, furry wist, and he grasped it tight as Whiskers righted himself.

At this moment, Tessa's eyes slowly fluttered open. "Whuh?" she blinked, slowly registering the fact that nothing was beneath her feet. In a panic, she looked up - and registered that Flynn's grasp was the only thing preventing her from plummeting into the abyss. "Oh, good, you're awake. This would have been a lot harder if you were still unconscious," he nonchalantly commented as Tessa grabbed his arm with her other hand and, with a grunt, heaved her back into the saddle. "What happened?" she breathed. "You fainted, I saved our lives. Typical hero stuff," Flynn shrugged.

"Whiskers, can you give me more details?" Tessa cocked an eyebrow, and her bird screeched in response. By the time he finished, she was staring at him in awe. "You saved my life," she breathed in amazement. "Eh, no big deal. I just -"

Tessa wrapped her arms around his shoulders and gave him a kiss on the lips. Flynn's eyes went wide. "Never had that kind of action before," he breathed.

"You're definitely the greatest pilot I know," Tessa winked.

X

"Was that Flynn?" Spyro frowned. "Wouldn't surprise me," Terrafin grumbled.

 **A/N**

 **A/N**

 **Welp, that went well. I considered putting the actual fight in this chapter, but . . . . wasn't sure what to do. I'm not great with fight scenes. But you gotta love Flessa fluff! XD**

 **Sparkbutt, I already talked to you.**

 **Guest, SCREW YOU. FLESSA 4EVER.**

 **Yes, LiteFox, it was 'Snappy'. And the lack of draconic Trap Masters? I was annoyed at first, but it actually works well. :) So quit laughing, you're playing right into my hands. And mind if I borrow Trek's Clubhouse for a few scenes in a couple of chapters?**

 **utopiaray123, love the YGO reference, and yes, yes it is. XD**

 **Anyways. Now that that's over with, I think this chapter went well and I really want to get it posted, plus I have no comments other than that I love Flessa fluff and really hope I'm not becoming 'one-note' about that.**

 **Next chapter, Snap Shot gets his pet monster back, Spyro and Terrafin return to Woodburrow, and Tessa and Flynn (try to) rout a troll Petrified Darkness mining operation with help from someone who just so happened to be in the neighbourhood. See ya next time 'round, in Ch. 9: Power to the Pilots! Peace!**


	9. Off Your Reptilian Rocker

Ch. 9: Off Your Reptillian Rocker

"Okay, we're almost here," Tessa reported to Flynn, who didn't respond. "Flynn?" she added. "You didn't fall off Whiskers, right?" the kitsune continued, still failing to turn around and look at him.

"Flynn!" Tessa snapped, turning around in irritation. "Okay, what's wrong with you?" she frowned. The pilot was drooling, with a bewildered grin on his face. "Flynn? Fly-ynn?" she asked in irritation. "Fine, have it your way," she sighed and slapped him lightly in the face.

"Oh, uh, what?" the pilot blinked. "Gee, one congratulatory kiss and he goes all woozy," Tessa smirked. "Why did you do that, anyway?" Flynn sighed, still smiling. "You saved my life. I had to do something in return," Tessa winked. "What, don't tell me that was your first kiss?" she smirked.

Flynn blinked. "No, of course not, just," he paused. "Normally girls that kiss me know me for more than two hours," he pointed out.

Whiskers screeched a warning. This time, Tessa looked around, and carefully avoided the edge of an island. "There it is," she smiled, gesturing at a large mountain above them. A camp of canvas tents was set up around a cluster of mineshafts. "There's the Amazoness Troll camp!" Tessa exclaimed.

X

"How long until we're back in Motleytowm?" Sharpfin demanded. "Oh, wait. My entire crew upped and vanished on me so I have no one to ask how long the trip will be!" he sarcastically fumed.

The red-eyed blue Dirt Shark was standing behind the tiller of his ship, clad in his usual admiral's jacket with the golden chainsaw armour on his dorsal fin. Notably, the entire deck of his ship was empty.

"And the last crewmember I have left is kipping in the hull," the admiral sighed. "And that's only because . . . . oh, screw it, who cares?" he continued. Sharpfin noticed that a dial on his dashboard was blinking red and he moaned in irritation. "Ugh, don't tell me I'm out of fuel," he groaned, casting around the sky for a place he could dock and refuel. "I guess that mine will have to do," he sighed, twisting the tiller and pulling towards a campsite on the side of a mountain.

X

"Cogshine! How goes the Portal?" Linagarnix demanded.

The evil Portal Mistress was standing on a balcony overlooking a large room. The entire floor of the room was taken up by a large metal six-pointed star with a Portal of Power in the middle, with holes drilled into it that had pipes snaking around and into them. A mature sphinx/dragon hybrid with silver fur and scales was crouched on one of the six points, painstakingly inscribing potent-looking runes into the surface of the steel star. "It's slow going," Cogshine reported. "I need more raw power if this is ever going to work," he reported.

"I can have my miners dig up far more Petrified Darkness to liquify -" Linagarnix started, but the hybrid cut her off. "That won't work. Petrified Darkness is more like a flavouring than a drink. I need raw energy. Strong magical power. The kind of thing a master wizard would have. The Mystic Seekers of the Radiant Isles would be a good example,"

Linagarnix tutted. "I'll forgive you for interrupting me, ONCE. And there's no way someone could get to the Radiant Isles, capture those Mabu again and get back here before the Cloudbreak Volcano erupts and purifies Skylands of evil - hey," she smiled. "Would the Cloudbreak Volcano's eruption provide enough power?"

"Easily, but that's -" Cogshine paused in realisation. "Raw, unformed magical energy. Normally it would wash away all the evil magic, but if we could focus it through the Darkness like a lens," he suggested, "It would be perfect for our plans," Linagarnix smiled. "Make sure everything's ready by the time of the eruption, I want to make sure that we can switch this thing on as soon as that volcano erupts,"

"Yes ma'am," her minion smirked.

X

"Er, Tessa, there's a ship headed towards the camp," Flynn reported, spotting a gold-and-cyan yacht with four engines mounted on the hull angling towards the mines. "Hmm. If I had to guess, I'd say that that's a cargo ship. Whatever they're mining down there, that ship is gonna take it away somewhere. Probably to be sold on the black market," Flynn surmised. "Doesn't look like a cargo ship," the kitsune frowned. "They never do," Flynn shook his head. "Regular cargo ships go through all kinds of checks every time they make port. Little cruisers like that, on the other hand, no one expects to be big enough to carry much goods, so so one ever even knocks on the hull. So the obvious thing is to smuggle illegal stuff in small shipments that never get checked," Flynn explained. "How long have you been doing this again?" Tessa asked in admiration. "Good few years. I remember the first time I flew around Skylands. I was ten and had made an entire airplane out of paper -"

"You'll have to tell me about that later. We need to take that cruiser out of the sky," Tessa ascertained. "Ka-blam!"

"Or we could hijack it," Flynn smirked.

X

"We really need to have a talk about your battle tactics!" Spy Rise shrieked as Snap Shot landed. "Tactics? You mean there's more to fighting than charging in and throwing whatever comes to hand at your enemy?" Snap Shot deadpanned, snatching hold of one of Sky Rise's legs.

"Of course there is! There's feints, distractions, a pincer movement - why are you picking me up?" Spy Rise listed as the ex-Skylander lifted him into the air. The monster watched, confused, as Snap Shot lifted a protesting Spy Rise into the air with no noticeable effort. "Do your _tactics_ cover this?" Snap Shot asked scathingly. "Please put me down," the Spyder requested. Snap Shot took no notice as he carefully aimed. "Please put me down, please put me down, PUT ME DOWN YOU INCONSIDERATE - AAARGH!" the unfortunate SWAPlander shrieked as the burly huntsman bodily threw him at their mutual adversary.

Peacock grunted in confusion as the panicked Spyder landed on his head and frantically grasped the first thing that came to hand - the dragon's protruding, disproportionate ears. "That's it, mate! See if you can blind the beastie!" Snap Shot commanded. "Are you off yoir reptilian rocker?" his temporary comrade demanded. "Probably," the crocogator shrugged nonchalantly, drawing a steel, barbed arrow and fitting it to his thick longbow, before firing it at the monstrous dragon's wings.

Spy Rise frantically wrapped his legs around Peacock's stubby neck and ineffectually slapped at his thick scalp. "Go for the eyes, mate! The eyes!" Snap Shot commanded. "Which ones?" he protested, gesturing at the additional eyes Peacock boasted on it's neck, shoulders and wings. "I see ya problem," Snap Shot reported, ducking backwards as Peacock swung his boulder-like tail at the crocogator, and giving the tail a cuff for good measure as it paused. "Are you gonna help?" Spy Rise demanded. "Sorry, mate! You're on your own!" he winked, nocking an arrow in seconds and shooting at the membrane of Peacock's wings. It glanced off one of the ribs and embedded itself into the ground. The renegade cursed and ran around Peacock, staying in his adversary's blind spot.

The dragon roared in frustration and ran towards a nearby tree, headfirst. "Oh no. On no oh no oh no!" Spy Rise shrieked, frantically to get off Peacock's face.

"That's it," a voice coaxed Peacock from within his head. "Crush the annoying Skylander against the giant tree,"

The SWAPlander swung to the side and barely missed being crushed as Peacock's reinforced brow slammed into the hard, unforgiving wood. The monster staggered and moaned as it tried to recover, Spy Rise scuttling down it's neck and onto it's back. He saw his chance as Peacock slumped to the ground and frantically made an escape to the solid relief of the undergrowth. "Thanks a lot!" he snapped at Snap Shot. "You're welcome!" the crocagator replied enthusiastically. It was right about then that Spy Rise realised that the huntsman had strapped a massive arrow with what looked like explosives on the end to his bow and was aiming it at Peacock's still form. Which Spy Rise was standing extremely close to. "Ah, you might wanna duck, mate!" Snap Shot suggested, before releasing the arrow.

The Spyder reacted on instinct, shooting a grappling line into the canopy above and rappelling out of the line of fire. Snap Shot's arrow soared over Peacock's back and embedded itself in the tree above his head. The monster looked at it, confused. "Move," a voice hissed within the Greeble Dragon's cranium, and he obediently staggered to his feet.

Then the explosive payload detonated, concussing Peacock, knocking him back to the ground and blowing a large hole in the tree that loomed above him.

Seconds later, there was a sickening crack as the surviving part of the tree decided it was incapable of holding the massive trunk's weight, and it collapsed, bringing the huge tree down.

The massive trunk followed the path of least resistance, which was towards the hole Snap Shot had blown in it's roots, and toppled forwards. Peacock only had time to moan once before it was crushed underneath the trunk.

Finally, the tree's canopy hit the ground, the uppermost branches barely a metre from Snap Shot's feet. "That's how we do it at Cloudcracker! Crock and Roll!" the crocogator fist-pumped, slinging his bow over his back and making his way around the canopy to see how Peacock had fared. The dragon was surprisingly lacking any serious injuries, and throughly de-evilised, which was obvious due to the purple of his body having been replaced by a yellowing green. "I'll leave him to the clean-up team," Snap Shot shrugged.

The branches rustled behind him and Spy Rise emerged, looking throughly concussed. "Urgh, what happened?" the Spyder asked, confused. Snap Shot turned around and saw his temporary teammate, and sweatdropped. "Did you hear anything I just said and did?" he winced. The SWAPlander held a hand to his head in confusion. "Nope, don't think so. Why?" he asked, curious.

Snap Shot awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "I, uh, have a kinda embarrassing victory dance I only do when I'm alone," he lied, feigning perfect awkwardness. "I didn't realise you were right there, and, uh," he trailed off. Spy Rise blinked. "Well, no worries then, _mate_!" he winked. Snap Shot laughed nervously. "I didn't hear anything. Now, this was, ah, fun," he winced, as it had been anything but for him, "but I've really gotta get going. Got a team to catch up with. I hope I'll see you under more, uh, peaceful circumstances sometime. Goodbye, Snap Shot!" The Spyder said his farewells rather quickly, and Snap Shot slightly raised an eyebrow. "This guy is more insane than Freeze Blade! I gotta get out of here!" Spy Rise whispered to himself as he turned away and climbed into the trees.

Snap Shot breathed a sigh of relief. "He didn't hear anything, phew. 'E was just leaving because he thinks I'm crazy. And he clearly ain't got no idea how good crocogator hearing is,"

Up in the treetops, Spy Rise was acting similarly. "He thinks I heard nothing," he sighed in relief. "Now, why did he try to lie to me? And what in Skylands is Cloudcracker supposed to mean?"

X

"Halt, pirate! Surrender now and we might go easy on you. If we're in a good mood!" Flynn commanded as Whiskers landed on the deck of Sharpfin's ship. "Are we in a good mood?" the pilot whispered to Tessa, who pulled a dagger from her belt. "You'd better believe it," she savagely grinned.

"Pirate?" Sharpfin gasped. "Now you listen here, Mr. Mabu!" he demanded. "I ain't no pirate. Maybe I ain't the most respectable and law-abiding shark that's ever sailed the skies, but I'm well and truly a far cry from piracy, and if not for the fact that I need to fly the ship I'd come over there and tell you and your ugly bird exactly why that is the case," the admiral ranted. "Ugly!" Tessa gasped, and Whisker squawked in angry agreement.

"We ain't buying it," Flynn frowned. "If you're not a pirate, why are you making port at an illegal mining operation run by Trolls?"

"Illegal mining operation?" The Dirt Shark's eyes widened. "I'm out of fuel and I need to fill up, and that's the only place in sight, I swear!"

"Alright then," Flynn frowned. "Show me your fuel gauge," he demanded, walking over to Sharpfin's control dashboard and staring him in the eye. "Right there," he groaned, gesturing to a needle that was flickering in the red zone. Flynn's eyes lost their frown lines and he stepped backwards in a slump. "Oh. Okay then. Ah, sorry about that," he awkwardly winced, stepping back over to Whiskers and his vulpine rider, who raised an irritated eyebrow at him. "Little cruiser to carry the shipments, huh?" she frowned. "Hey, in my defence, the odds of a random civilian pulling into a criminal mining syndicate's headquarters to stop for gas are pretty much nonexistent," Flynn retorted. "I guess you're right," Tessa nodded. "Kinda bummed I don't get to wail on pirates, though,"

Sharpfin cleared his throat. "Ahem," Having got Flynn and Tessa's attention, he bellowed, "YOU TWO MORONS ARE STILL ON THE DECK OF MY SHIP!"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Alright, everyone, that's another chalter hot off the presses.**

 **LiteFox, I am so sorry, I meant the Man Cave. XD But you know that already . . . oh well! Guess we have a little crossover action to look forward to in two or three chapters. XD Glad you support Flessa. You're right, Flynn and Cali are just a bad pair. And Tessa's kiss was more a "Oh, you saved my life and I have to reward you somehow!" kiss than a "I'm hopelessly in love with you," kiss. Did I not make that clear enough?**

 **I'll start digging your grave. XD**

 **Sparkbutt, I have no intention of reviving song chapters AT PRESENT. XD**

 **Utopiaray123, uh, your name? Number 39: Utopia and Chaos Number 39: Utopia Ray?**

 **Samjax, he doesn't. In case you hadn't noticed, Snap Shot's been doing a lot of lying recently.**

 **Best OC Maker, I can't explain that as of yet.**

 **Guest: Whatever.**

 **Anyway. Interesting little reveal by Snap Shot. And you gotta love Flynn accusing Sharpfin of piracy - especially since he's actually kind of right. We all know Sharpfin's not exactly citizen of the year. XD But Flynn . . . . . . doesn't.**

 **I actually think I did a good job with 'Team Spy Shot Vs. The Greeble Dragon'. The secret to successful fight scenes? Lots of dialogue.**

 **Yes, Peacock was originally my idea of a 'Greeble Dragon', partially inspired by Bubba Greebs and my lingering love of dragons. Then I had the idea that Spy Rise could team up with a hunter of some kind to defeat Peacock - who was named that because he, like peacocks everywhere, have lots of eyes. Of course, one Ranger's Apprentice marathon later, I was stuck on the idea of bows and arrows. So Snap Shot came into play. Plus I felt like I'd been neglecting the ongoing mystery element of this fiction. Ergo why Snappy quit the Skylanders and has a regular bow and arrow, no Traptanium in sight. Next chapter, for real this time, Power to the Pilots!**

 **Also, I'm thinking of setting up a kind of archive of things that can be treated as 'universal Skylands fanon' - for example, that Tessa's species are called kitsunes. Little useful titbits and stuff like that, all in one easily accessed place. Appealing, huh?**

 **Anyway, enough reveal for today! Peace!**


	10. Power To The Pilots!

Ch. 10: Power to the Pilots!

"Is everyone here?" Sprocket asked the assembled crowd of assembled Skylanders and rookies. The milling crowd ignored her.

"Who's he?" Camo smirked. "This is Slobber Tooth, my, uh, trainee," Terrafin winced. "Yah," Slobber Tooth grinned, the dinosaur-like turtle showing a mouthful of fangs. "I'm hungry!"

"Here, try this!" Camo smirked, causing a watermelon to sprout from the ground. "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, looks delicious!" Slobber Tooth enthusiastically grinned, opening his mouth impossibly wide and swallowing the melon whole. Camo blinked in confusion. "But I didn't even get to make it explode!" he protested weakly.

"ATTEN-SHUN!" Cali declared. Her voice shocked the thirty-two assembled Cores and they all immediately looked towards her. "Alright, now that everyone's here!" she shouted in frustration. "And mah gods, it took y'all long enough," Prism Break muttered to himself. "You can say that again," Stealth Elf nodded next to him.

"Alright. I'll let Sprocket explain the plan," Cali motioned for the Golding to take her place at the head of the crowd. Sprocket complied, lugging a projector screen with her. She positioned it in front of the crowd and switched it on, which caused it to display a map of the Cloudbreak Islands.

"As you can see, the Cloudbreak Islands are split into four sections. The Eastern Forests, where we are now," Sprocket indicated the section to the right of the roughly circular map, which was coloured a bright green, "The Southern Swamps," which were depicted in watery, mossy green, "The Western Deserts," Sprocket pointed her stick at the brown-and-beige section in the left part of the map, "And the Northern Mountains," She finally gestured to the top section in white. "Each of the four sections is home to one of the four Ancient Elementals," Sprocket continued, and four figures appeared on the map. A plant-like dryad for the east, a large fish for the south, some kind of squid monster for the west and what almost looked like a giant flying squirrel for the north. "Welcome to Skylands," Spyro chuckled, thinking back to his visit to the Oracle a couple of years ago. "Where our gods are interdimensional slug octopi and giant flying squirrels,"

"We'll split into four groups of eight," Cali explained. "Each of the sections of Cloudbreak are attuned to two of the eight elements. That means that the Skylanders of the matching two elements will guard each one of the Ancients. Life and Fire," The Mabu trainer gestured to the eight Skylanders of those elements. Hot Dog panted in excitement and Smolderdash, his trainee, sighed with a small smile. "You're staying here in the east,"

"Hell yeah!" The other Fire-element trainee, an ex-biker rhinoceros turned good named Fryno, shouted. "I am pumped for this!"

"Water and Undead, you lot are going to the swamps," Cali continued as though she had not been interrupted with little more than a cursory glance of irritation. Chop Chop saluted, and Grim Creeper, standing behind him, smiled. "Earth, Tech? We're headed west to the deserts," Sprocket smirked, then realised what she had just said. "Deserts? Oh no," she trailed off. "Which means Magic and Air are going north to the mountains. I think you'll be a fan of that, Whirlwind. Some old friends have been dying to see you,"

Whirlwind blinked snd looked at her. "The north of Cloudbreal - you mean we're going to Winter Keep?" she asked in a flurry of excitement, fluffy white clouds forming out of nowhere above her in her excitement. "You mean the old tower with the fawning elves that built a statue of you in your honour a few years back?" Jet-Vac snorted. "Fabulous, another reason for you to have a swelled ego as big as your freakishly large wings,"

Whirlwind glared at him, and the peaceful clouds directly above her suddenly formed into a swirling, blackened funnel. An arcing bolt of lightning shot from the tip of the funnel and hit Jet-Vac's vacuum equipment. The bird screeched in shock from the pain arcing through the chrome and into the thick skin of his claw as the steady, whisper-quiet hum of the motors inside slowed and died. "Now look what you did, you hybrid misfit!" the Sky Baron growled.

Stealth Elf gasped. Prism Break's jaw dropped. Spyro's eyebrows went down into a disgusted snarl, and Pop Fizz snatched an ugly, sickly-looking green potion from his pack and began to shake it with an incendiary scowl. Whirlwind's eyes went wide in shock and anguish. A single tear slid down her lightly furred cheek and with an upset sniff she stretched a large, feathered wing across her face and turned away, running off towards the docking bay set up with the surviving room crafts.

Spyro and Scratch immediately dashed after their fellow quadruped, and after a moment's hesitation, Cynder followed her boyfriend.

"Well, I don't know what's got her feathers in a fix," Jet-Vac snorted. "Why are you all looking at me like that?" he asked, registering twenty-seven angry faces glaring at him. "That was mean, Jet Stream. But I'm sure if you say sorry it'll all be a-okay!" Pop Thorn enthusiastically smiled, pressing hinself against his mentor's leg and hip like an overenthusiastic cat. Sprocket cruelly smirked as she took a picture of Jet-Vac's stunned expression. "That's going on the wall - and don't say a word, you deserve it after pulling a stunt like that!" she snapped as Jet-Vac opened his beak to respond.

X

"Good to hear from ya, S-" The voice on the walkie-talkie was immediately hushed by the caller. "Shut up! Don't say my name on an open line! Codenames only, remember, Miasma? It's Edge on here, okay?" They demanded in irritation.

"You're right. Sorry," Miasma responded. "I got word from Smasher. He's been keeping tabs on the Cloudbreak Skylanders that came to this backwoods cluster of islands. Making sure they won't get in our way. One of them's acting suspicious, though," Edge commented, the frown evident in their voice. "Which one? I can sneak in and ask a few questions," Miasma suggested in excitement. "No! If he sees you and tells anyone, our plan'll be in shambles! Still," Edge thought for a contemplative second. "Alright. Sneak in and see if you can find anyone, but don't blow your cover! The Cores are all splitting up tomorrow. You ain't got much time!"

"Don't worry," Miasma smirked. "I'll get a friend of ours to make sure there's plenty of cloud cover. No one's gonna see me in the gloom,"

X

"Ai-ai-ai, Sharpfin, mi amigo, que pasa? What's going on up there?" a voice echoed from below decks. "Who's that?" Tessa frowned, glaring at Sharpfin. "The only other person on this old pile of scrap," he sighed, waving a hand in irritation. "A friend of mine who's in a bit of trouble, so I'm giving him a lift," he added as a slim figure appeared from the door that led to below the deck. He was clad in a black-and-red jumpsuit with cowboy boots - they even had spurs on the back - and a white mask with exaggerated red eyes that looked almost festive. A red sombrero was slung over his back and he loosely, casually, carried a large golden horn in his hand. "Ah, hola," he smiled and greeted Flynn and Tessa with a clear Spanish accent. "Me llamo Fiesta, et tu?"

Flynn and Tessa shared a curious glance. Finding the other equally clueless, they simultaneously frowned, "Huh?"

Sharpfin surreptitiously nudged the character. "Fiesta. The common tongue, if ya will,"

"Ah, si, si - I mean yes, yes, yes. Hello, my friends, I am Fiesta. You are?" he asked, gesturing with his hands.

"Ah, I'm Flynn, the most awesome pilot in all of Skylands," Fkynn inteoduced himself with a smile. "Flynn? As in, EL Capitano Flynn? Oh my goodness, I am meeting a celebrity! My friend talks about you all the time, she is a hu-u-uge fan of yours!" Fiesta smiled exuberantly, spreading his arms wide for emphasis. "And I'm Tessa," Tessa nodded, looking at Flynn with newfound admiration at the mention of Fiesta's friend.

"Oh good, good," Fiesta broadly smiled, dashing forwards with a curious musical gait, dashing forwards, snatching the Mabu and kitsune's wrists and dragging them towards Sharpfin. "Tessa, this is mi hombre, Sharpfin. Sharpfin, this is mi hermana, Tessa," He promptly forced their hands together and they nervously shook. "Flynn, this mi hombre, Sharpfin. Sharpfin, this is Flynn, El Capitano," He repeated the procedure, and as Flynn shook the Dirt Shark's hand, he looked up towards the sky and fingered his chin. "El Capitano, huh? I like that," he smiled, shaking Sharpfin's claw with newfound vigour. "And Flynn, this is mi hermana, Tessa. Tessa, this is Flynn, El Capitano,"

"We've met," Tessa assured Fiesta, but not wanting to disappoint the infectiously enthusiastic party ghoul, she shook her friend's hand anyway. "Bien, bien, we've all met now. We are all brothers and sisters, mi amigos," Fiesta smiled. "Aaahhh," Tessa nervously exhaled, hoping to avoid disagreement.

The crackle of static interrupted Fiesta, and Sharpfin called it out. "Hate to interrupt the love-fest, but we've got their attention," he reported, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the troll camp.

"Hello civilians! What the hell are you doing?" a malign voice commanded over the intercom.

"It's the amazoness trolls!" Flynn whispered in shock. "Not to worry, my friends, I can take care of this," Fiesta grinned, moving over to the intercom and raising the microphone. "Ah, hello, hello. My deepest apologies for the disturbance, but we have run out of fuel and we were hoping that you could resupply us,"

"Do we look like a charity to you? Beat it, losers!" the troll hissed.

"We will, of course, pay you for your trouble. And you should know that, like all the Undead, I am filthy rich," Fiesta slyly smiled, and there was indistinct chatter on the other end of the line, before the response came. "Alright then, pull in and dock. But leave all weapons on board when you disembark, agreed?"

"Agreed," Fiesta nodded, and the line went dead.

"What are we getting ourselves into, Whiskers?" Tessa sighed, affectionately patting her bird's beak. "Whoa, hey, relax. This is good," Flynn smiled. "This way, we won't have anyone shooting at us when we dock,"

X

"Okay, here's the cover story," Sharpfin whispered. "I'm captain of this ship, you two are my loyal crew," he gestured to Flynn and Tessa, the latter of which snorted in irritated disdain, "and he's a rich elitist musician that hired me to take him to his next concert," Fiesta smiled at this description. "I am perfectly happy with this arrangement, mi amigo," he lent his support. "Makes one of us," Tessa snorted. Flynn clapped her on the back. "Sometimes you just gotta go with it," he shrugged.

X

"Hey, I'm sure he didn't mean that," Spyro tried to console his friend. Whirlwind had her head buried in the blankets of her room. "Of course he did! Why the hell wouldn't he?"

"Because he's a bastard who never should have gotten into the Skylanders," Scratch snorted, affectionately licking Whirlwind's cheek and doing her best to ignore the taste of salt. Whirlwind instinctively flinched away.

"Got that right," Cynder snorted from the doorway to Whirlwind's room. No one took any notice of her.

"My wings aren't too big, are they?" the unicorn dragoness appealed to Scratch, who shook her masked head. "Naah," the sphinx snorted. "They're unusual, but don't worry, it suits you,"

"Thanks," Whirlwind sniffed, enveloping the sphinx in a clingy hug. Spyro awkwardly hung a few inches back. "Nice to see she feels better," Cynder nodded, moving up beside Spyro, who absent-mindedly draped an affectionate wing over her. "Look on the bright side, Whirlwind," she interrupted, and Whirlwind cast wary eyes at her. "Tomorrow you're going to a place where everyone loves you," Cynder pointed out, and Whirlwind nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. Tomorrow we're going to Winter Keep. I wonder how Duff's been doing?" Whirlwind told herself. "Who?" Scratch questioned, and Whirlwind enthusiastically began to regale her trainee with the tale of how she saved the frostbitten castle of Winter Keep from a terrible curse of eternal night.

"Wish I had a place like that," Cynder sighed to herself. "Hey, you have a devoted human internet following," Spyro tried to console his girlfriend. "Yay. Billions of people who heard some misconstrued version of the fiasco with Malefor that some wiseguy turned into a shoddy video game, and think I'm a fictional character, love me," Cynder sarcastically snorted.

Spyro could not respond to that.

X

"Ah, mi amigos, que pasa?" Fiesta enthusiastically greeted the trolls that boarded the ship. "Huh?" The female trolls questioned and looked at each other. "He's, uh, from a far-away part of Skylands. Fiesta, please remember to use the common tongue," Sharpfin gently reminded the Undead musician, and he nodded. "Okay, okay, Sharpfin," he sighed.

Flynn blinked in surprise. "So these are female trolls?" he gasped. "They look no different to the male ones!"

Sure enough, the green-skinned females were just as squat, knobbly, hairy and ugly as their male counterparts. "Wow," Flynn's eyes widened as he stared at the largest one in the middle. "Now that is a face that only a mother could love," he blinked at the troll with gnarled, protruding teeth, a nose like a raven's beak and a patchwork dress that might have once had polkadots. "Flynn? Diplomacy?" Tessa suggested. "Diploma-what-now?" he repeated in confusion.

But the trollette in question took no notice of Flynn's insult. She had eyes only for Fiesta and the massive quantities of money he surely possessed to pay her for her fuel.

"Cash first. Then gas," she demanded. "Why, certainly," Fiesta nodded, feeling his jumpsuit for a second. Then his eyes lit up with an idea. "I know where I left it," he smiled, donning the sombrero slung over his back. A black-and-red vortex immediately appeared under his feet, which he dropped into up to his head. "Just give me a second!" the seemingly disembodied head of Fiesta requested. And, sure enough, to the amazement of the watching trolls, he took a deep breath and instantly reappeared - brandishing his massive horn at the trolls. "My sincerest apologies, mi amigos, but I do not pay evil," he declared, before blowing a massive blast of air into his horn. The resulting musical note was so strong that it blew the Amazons off the pier and several feet onto the island. "You did say those were evil trolls, right?" he asked Flynn for confirmation. "Technically, she said it," he pointed at Tessa. "Close enough. Onwards, mi amigos, we advance!" he shouted, strutting down the pier and tooting his horn in the general direction of the trolls. "Come on, it's gonna be a party down here! A real fiesta!" Fiesta exuberantly declared.

X

"About time I figured out where this book got to," Kaos grumbled, snatching up 'One Hundred Legends of Skylands' from where it lay abandoned on the floor. "Now, where was I before Her Annoyingness interrupted me? Ah, yes, Legend #59: The Terrors of Traptanium," Kaos read, turning to the right page. "Traptanium is the rarest element in the universe. Occupying position number one-hundred-and-twenty-seven on the universal periodic table, it is renowned for being almost indestructible. It can only be created through infusing pure diamond with the superheated power of a million suns. Such heat can only be attained with the power of the Eternal Fire Source. Makes sense," Kaos grumbled, "of course the _Skylosers_ would have it. In addition to being almost indestructible, with the correct specialised magical methods, a pocket dimension can be created within a shard of Traptanium that can be used as an inescapable prison. Legend has it that the fabled Cloudcracker Prison was constructed almost entirely out of this incredibly rare mineral. Sadly, it is impossible to verify this, as Cloudcracker Prison had vanished into fable, only spoken of in fairy tales and bedtime stories, and no one can be certain as to whether or not it ever actually existed. Dang, I would have loved my own personal inescapable prison," Kaos groaned in irritation.

"Are you sure you should be spending your time researching fairy tales, master?" Glumshanks questioned. "Quiet, you! The City of Arkus was a fairy tale too, and we all saw how that turned out!" Kaos snapped at his butler. "Speaking of which, I wonder whatever happened to the Iron Fist of Arkus? And my old Conquertron. I would have loved to throw him in Her Motherness' ugly, pedicured face," Kaos snapped.

"What's the Iron Fist of Arkus?" Darkus' voice interrupted him. Kaos' eyes went wide in shock as he turned and stared at the video screen, which had turned itself on and revealed the dragon's face. "It was the most awesome relic of ultimate power I ever hand on my hand!" Kaos demanded. "See? This hand!" he shouted, holding out his right hand. "This one right here! This hand wore the Iron Fist of Arkus!"

"Well, it's not wearing the Fist NOW, is it? And that's what really matters," Darkus snorted. "Now, where exactly did you lose it?"

"Some basement in the throne room of the Lost City of Arkus, I dunno," Kaos snorted. "And where exactly is this Lost City of Arkus?" Darkus asked. "The south-east sector, point twelve slash thirty-six and a half in the grid. It's buried deep underground, but there's a back door near the bottom that lets you right in there. Why?" Kaos explained. "No reason, just boredom," Darkus shrugged. "Goodbye, bro!"

"I'M NOT YOUR BROTHER!" Kaos snapped, but the line had already gone dead.

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Just in case this needed clearing up for anyone, no, Fiesta is not part of the Skylanders at present. I just figured it was totally unrealistic that Flynn would rout a camp of Trolls by himself and he needed at least one Skylander, even if they weren't a Skylander at the time, with him. As to why exactly he was with Sharpfin, that's a story for another time. :P**

 **BlazinVoid, it's Snap Shot, not Slap Shot. XD And I agree.**

 **LiteFox, you have the right of it. Sharpfin's definitely an enjoyable and thus recurring character. :) I symphasise with Spy Rise . . . but I'm not letting him off. That's what his state-mandated days off are for. XD Thanks. :)**

 **icepelt2000, yes, I am talking about the Ranger's Apprentice book series. Cloudcracker is definitely gonna be relevant. And Sharpfin would prefer you to think of him as a privateer. XD**

 **BEST OC MAKER, utopiaray123. thanks for the support. :)**

 **samjax, I already talked to you. I think. Right?**

 **And Darkus is cooking up trouble. As is Kaos' incompetence. XD I wonder where this will lead?**

 **Seriously, I don't know. I'm making a lot of this up as I go along. XD**

 **Next chapter, Fiesta gets SuperCharged, Whirlwind becomes a celebrity, Jet-Vac might be accidentally on purpose left behind and the mystery does not continue to unravel. Maybe. Next time; Freezes and Festivities! Peace!**


	11. Practicalities and Prank Calls

Ch. 11: Practicalities and Prank Calla

"Er, Master Kaos?" Glumshanks asked. "Doo de doo doo doo, guess I can cross get rid of the competition off my to-do list," Kaos grinned evilly. "Uh . . . . what are you talking about, master? And what's that?" Glumshanks questioned as Kaos picked up what looked like an Arkeyan remote control. "Tell me, Glumshanks, did you ever wonder why I never went back for the Fist?" Kaos rhetorically asked. "Uh, no?" Glumshanks frowned. "Well, I'll tell you," Kaos sniggered.

"Last year, after all the dust died down, I did send a troll mining team to find out what happened to the Iron Fist. They found it, and ir had been completely destroyed. It's worthless, powerless. It couldn't make hot buttered toast, let alone rule Skylands," Kaos snorted derisively. "But, while they were digging, the trolls found something extremely interesting. The Arkeyans were paranoid. So paranoid that they rigged their entire city with explosives. Just in case there was a rebellion and it looked like Arkus would fall, it could be destroyed at a moment's notice to prevent any would-be invaders from getting their hands on all the Arkeyan technology. At the push of a single button, the entire city will collapse in on itself, leaving barely enough room to breathe," Kaos smirked. Glumshanks was surprised. "Wow, master, that's . . . . really impressive," he smiled. "But what good does that do us here?"

"Easy. Remember that button I mentioned?" Kaos produced the remote. "I have it right here! When I push this button, the entire Lost City of Arkus will vanish off the face of the earth. And bury Darkus alive with it! Ha-hah-hah-hah-ha-ha!" Kaos maniacally laughed in victory. Glumshanks applauded. "That's incredible, master,"

"He underestimated me. Everyone does! And that will be his defeat," Kaos smirked, then paused. "Er, I mean, declaw! De-paw? Whatever! He will fall and I will stand triumphant! We just need to wait until Darkus is standing inside the throne room to the Lost City of Arkus, and then, we push the button!"

"But how will we know when that is?" Glumshanks frowned.

Kaos smirked, sitting in his throne and twirling around to face the magical phone screen. "Easy. We prank call him,"

X

"What went wrong?" Linagarnix demanded. "I had them! Really, I did!" a levitating, four-armed purple spellcaster that looked vaguely like a schoolteacher protested. "Did you even try to do something yourself?" Linagarnix snorted. "Of course not! If I did that I would have revealed my hand!" Mesmeralda protested. "You have four of them! I think you could have afforded that!" the Dark Portal Mistress snorted.

"And risk my manicure? I thought you of all people would understand that I just cannot do that!" Mesmeralda protested. "I suppose I can't fault you for that," Linagarnix sighed, standing up and walking over to her Portal. The magician anxiously followed her. "Oh wait," the Dark Portal Master paused, as if a thought had just struck her, and she whirled in a flurry of anger back towards Mesmeralda, who flinched back in shock. Balls of dark energy were collected around her fists, and her eyes were glowing with evil energy, and she looked positively furious. "YES I CAN!" she shrieked. "Thanks to you, not only did we lose Peacock, one of our greatest assets. but you couldn't be bothered even TRYING to get him back. I sent you on a mission to distract the Skylanders from our real plan! So get out there and DISTRACT them! NOW!" she shrieked, absolutely livid. "Waagh!" the puppetmistress gasped in shock, stumbling backwards in shock and fear, failing to look where she was going. The hem of her dress caught on something and she stumbled backwards, tipping over herself and falling backwards - into the milky white, liquid surface of Linagarnix' Portal of Power. Mesmeralda's squeal of shock was abruptly cut off.

Linagarnix stared into the milky, glowing depths of the Portal. "I wonder where she went?" she questioned, then shrugged. "Eh, I suppose it doesn't matter. As long as she isn't here. Incompetent, useless - ugh! You see what I have to deal with these days?" the Portal Master bellowed into the shadows of Kaos Kastle's throne room. Something within the shadows stirred in response. "I knew you'd understand. You always do, don't you, my dear?" Linagarnix cooed, and a growl of approval came from the shadows that harmonised with her voice.

X

Darkus was boarding the deck of his airship when Kaos excitedly dialled Darkus' number. "Hello?" Darkus frowned into his phone. "Ah, yes, I'm Hie Arpei, and I've been told someone at your place wants to talk to me," Kaos deadpanned.

"Hie Arpei?" Darkus frowned, them turned to the assembled Greebles crewing his ship. "Which one of you nitwits wants Hie Arpei?" he shouted in irritation.

He was immediately swarmed by Greeble crew members who were enthusiastically requesting higher pay. Back in their castle, Kaos and Glumshanks were laughing out loud at this. "Okay, okay," Kaos giggled. "He's still on his ship, we have a ways to go yet,"

X

"So, what does hermana mean?" Tessa asked Sharpfin out of curiosity. "Well, I can't rightly say for certain, but I've been around him for a while and I think it means sister," the admiral shrugged. Tessa blinked, before storming io to Fiesta in irritation. "Hey!" she shouted to get his attention. "Si, mi hermana?" Fiesta stopped blowing on his destructive horn as the procession made it's way down the pier and obligingly looked at him. "I'm not your sister," Tessa snapped. "No, no, you misunderstand, madame. Eeeeh-verybody is my brother and sister, mi hermano and hermana. You see?" Fiesta smiled.

Tessa sighed. "Why does that not surprise me?"

X

Kaos giggled like a maniac as he dialled Darkus' number again.

"Hello?" Darkus sighed from his quarters. "Hello, lucky sir or madam. You have won the random phone call lottery!" Glumshanks told him, doing his best to sound excited and enthusiastic. "Random phone call - I never entered a lottery," Darkus blinked in surprise. "Oh, no one enters this lottery. Everyone's a contender," Glumshanks informed the dragon.

"Great, what did I win?" Darkus frowned. "Just tell us exactly where you are right now, and we can have your prize delivered," the butler smiled. "And don't ask what the prize is, it's a secret,"

"I'm on an airship, I can't -" Darkus started, but the troll cut him off. "That doesn't matter, we have Spell Punks on the team that can immediately teleport your prize to you," Glumshanks continued, still imitating a game show host.

"Fine," he sighed. "I'm in the edge of the south-east quadrant, point one slash four," Darkus said. "Now where's my prize?"

"Thank you, and congratulations. You've won . . .. . Nothing! Hah!" Glumshanks did his best to sound mean. "WHAT?" Darkus demanded, but Glumshanks had already hung up. Kaos immediately burst out laughing. "He totally fell for it!"

"An inspired idea, sir," Glumshanks chuckled, complimenting his master. "You can say that again, Glumshanks,"

X

"Okay. Distract the SWAP Force Skylanders," Mesmeralda muttered to herself as Boom Jet, Freeze Blade and Grilla Drilla walked towards her. "What's distracting?" she wondered. "Ooh, I know. A shoe sale!" she squealed, teleporting into the town that the three members of the SWAP Force were entering, and spotted an empty store front.

With a quick bit of magic and quite a lot of finger snapping, the store was painted deep purple, several exquisite-looking shoes were racked up in rows and a large banner reading 'SHOE SALE - 50% OFF'. "Now, to sit back and watch the Skylunatics get _distracted_ ," Mesmeralda hissed in delight from where she was watching from the roof on the other side of the road.

"I wonder where Spy Rise went?" Grilla Drilla commented to the other two in vague concern as they walked past the hastily fabricated 'distraction' without a second glance. "Eh, I'm sure he's fine," Boom Jet shrugged it off. "Yeah, you know how he is. He just needs some time to himself for a while," Freeze Blade agreed, and Grilla Drilla nodded, still uncertain.

Mesmeralda groaned in anger. "Seriously? Who can resist shoe sales?" she moaned.

In an instant, the entire store she had created liquefied into a massive pile of sparkling magical sludge. The sorceress sighed in irritation. "I suppose that's what I get for magicking up something like that in a rush. I need to find something else. Because Linagarnix' pet dragon will eat me alive if I don't," She shuddered at the thought of Cogshine's menacing incisors. "What the hell kind of dragon is he, anyway?"

X

Cogshine paused at a sudden inexplicable twinge. "I can't help but suddenly get the feeling that there's someone, somewhere, who I should really tear limb from limb right now,"

Linagarnix tutted from the balcony where she was overseeing Cogshine's progress on his device. "Focus, dearie. I get feelings like that all the time and I think nothing of it," she commanded.

X

Kaos rang the dark dragon's phone number for the third time. "Who is it this time?" Darkus growled. "And it had better not be another prankster game show host!"

"What? Of course not, fool!" Kaos replied, doing his best to imitate his mother's shrill, somewhat melodious voice. "Where on earth are you, Darkus? I have a universe to rule, and I can't do that if my best dragon is gallivanting off in some middle-of-nowhere neck of the woods! Where exactly are you?" The Dark Portal Master demanded, inwardly deeply enjoying this.

Darkus gulped in sudden fear. Radio hosts were one thing, but he would never dare upset Linagarnix. "Well, I, uh," he stuttered. "WHERE?!" Kaos shrieked, perfectly impersonating his mother's hoarse scream. "Point eleven and a half slash thirty-four point seven five in the southeast sector of Skylands," Darkus stammered out. "And, pray tell, what exactly are you doing there?"

Darkus nervously smiled. "I, uh, managed to trick your idiot son Kaos into telling me where he left the Iron Fist of Arkus, and figured I'd go get it - purely for your benefit, of course, of course," he grimaced.

"Of course it was, you fool. And do not insult Kaos. He is far superior to you," Kaos snapped. Glumshanks blinked, and hastened towards Kaos, waving his hands in a 'no' sign. If he wasn't careful he would give the entire game away.

"Kaos? Please. That incompetent fool is hopeless," Darkus snorted in derision. "And that giant floating head of his, what a joke. Eon was right, it looks ridiculous,"

"What? That giant floating head is inspired, I tell you! FEAR IT! FEAR mmmrgh mmphifh urmph URMPH!" Kaos glared at Glumshanks, who had frantically clamped his hand over Kaos' mouth. "Uh, what?" Darkus frowned, severely confused.

"Uh, nothing, nevermind, gotta go, see you later dear!" Glumshanks called into the phone in a fake high-pitched voice, and immediately hung up.

"What in the world was that?" Darkus and Kaos simultaneously demanded, one in confusion, one in anger.

X

"Okay, what else. Think like a boy, think like a boy," Mesmeralda hummed to herself. "Derr, I'm a brain-dead idiot who likes things as mindless as me - of course!" She snapped her fingers with an idea and teleported to the town square, where she hastily began to erect her latest cunning idea.

"This is a nice place, y'now," Grilla Drilla commented. "Shame Spy Rise is missing it," Boom Jet commented as they reached the town square. "Come on, folks, and see Mesmeralda's amazing puppet show!" Mesmeralda advertised, standing on a hastily erected wooden podium next to a puppetry stage. "Ooh, puppets!" Freeze Blade squealed in excitement. "I suppose we should indulge the local customs, eh you teo?" Grilla smirked, and Freeze Blade let out a high-pitched feline squeal of excitement, tearing across the grass of the town square. Following their childish comrade, the other two SWAPlanders enthusiastically went to see the puppet show. "Excellent! Now I just have to keep them distracted by these puppets for the next two weeks!" Mesmeralda muttered to herself in glee. "Don't you see the obvious flaw in that plan?" one of the puppets clustering around her questioned. "What obvious flaw?" Mesmeralda demanded. "Nothing, nothing, nevermind,"

X

Fiesta drew back at the sight of a huge mob of trolls clustered at the edge of the pier and staring him down. "Oh no, this, it does not bode well for us, mi amigos," he nonchalantly commented. "You think? We gotta high-tail it back to the ship," Sharpfin demanded, panicked. "Naah," Tessa smiled. "Flynn's here. He can take care of these guys," she condifently smirked. Flynn nervously scratched the back of his head. "Uh, yeah, about that, I, uh,"

Flynn was interrupted by a second group of Trolls appearing out of nowhere behind them on the pier. "Oh, crud nuggets," Sharpfin breathed. "We're surrounded,"

"No need, no need," Fiesta smirked. "Especialy not for language like that," he added with a frown behind his racing mask. "I, uh, how do you say? I got this,"

"You can't take all them on by yourself!" Flynn protested. "Ay, jeez, whoever said I was by myself?" the ghoul frowned at them, pulling a small device from his pocket. "What's that?" Tessa blinked. "Oh, these? Nothing to worry about, they're just my car keys," Fiesta grinned.

X

"And I think it should be right about now," Kaos grinned, calling Darkus for the last time. "WHY DO I KEEP GETTING STUPID PHONE CALLS TODAY!" Darkus raged down the line. Kaos winced. "Is there really any need to shout at your dear," Kaos paused, then spat the word out, " _brother,_ like that?" he asked nonchalantly. "Sorry, Kaos," Darkus sighed. "I just keep getting random phone calls today. It makes no sense!"

"Yes it does - ah, n't! Does- _n't_!" Kaos hastily corrected himself. "Okay, something weird's going on here," Darkus frowned. "I know, I know, whatever. Where are you?" Kaos demanded, impatient.

Darkus grinned on the other end of the line. "Now, Kaos, remember earlier, when we were talking about your Iron Fist thing? And how you left it in the throne room of the Lost City of Arkus?" he snorted. "Yeah? What about it?" Kaos frowned, feigning ignorance. "I'm standing in the throne room right now!" Darkus crowed. Sore enough, the dragon was standing in an inconceivably massive room, decorated with all kinda of looping arches and ten-thousand-year-old architecture. A raised dais at the end of the room must have been the Arkeyan equivalent of a throne. "I am so glad you called, because I think I see the Iron Fist right over there," he grinned, moving carefully but purposefully around the giant robots towards a battered artefact that looked like it had once been the hand of an Arkeyan robot.

"You are?" Kaos grinned. "Oh goody,"

Darkus blinked and paused in shock. "Goody? GOODY?! I outwitted you! I tricked you into effectively giving me an artefact of unspeakable power! You should be upset! You should be angry! You should be rueing this day for all eternity! So RUE, DAMN YOU! Why are you HAPPY!" he demanded. "Whoa," The Dark Portal Master blinked. "Be careful with that temper of yours, Darky. You might just cave the roof in," he admonished.

"Cave the roof in?" Darkus spluttered. "This is an Arkeyan citadel! It has existed for more than ten thousand years! The roof will never just cave in!"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure. After all, for the last ten thousand years, no one has ever activated the city's self-destruct sequence," Kaos grinned.

The Dark dragon blinked in confusion. "Self-destruct sequence?"

Kaos grinned. "Yes. I pretended to be stupid enough to tell you where the Iron Fist of Arkus is, so that you would walk into a giant, ten-thousand-year-old booby-trap," he explained, cackling with glee.

Darkus snorted. "You forget one thing. The power of the Iron Fist of Arkus will make me indestructible. You really are as stupid as everyone thinks," he groaned.

"Oh, you'd like to believe that, wouldn't you?" Kaos snorted. "But here's the deal. The Fist is useless. It's powerless. I used up all of it's power last year. But it's not like that matters anyway. Even the Iron Fist of Arkus can't save you from being crushed under ten million tons of ancient history. So long, loser!" The Dark Portal Master shouted into the phone, and, snatching up the remote destruct button, he jammed his finger down on it.

Darkus' faint screams of terror could be heard from the phone, followed by the sound of what sounded like giant boulders smashing into the ground, before the line abruptly went dead.

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Guest; No. Tessa is not Fiesta's sister. -.-**

 **Sparkbutt: You evidently need to have more faith in everyone's favourite evil would-be overlord. ;)**

 **icepelt2000; I know, right? And thanks. I just thought that seemed right. He's the unlife of the party! XD**

 **samjax, I really hope you don't like Darkus so much after that. He IS a bad guy. :P**

 **Best OC Maker, it just seemed right to do it that way. I had major indecision over what was where, though. "Okay, Air has to be in the north, and Water in the south. Life has to be east, but where do I put Earth? West? South? And what about Magic? I should probably put them in the east, but Spyro needs to be in the mountains - but I don't wanna separate him and Cynder. Tech should be west - no, Earth and Undead should be west - urgh!" See my problem?**

 **LiteFox, what happened? Where are you?**

 **Anyways, now that the reviews are done, why did no one say anything about what happened to Whirlwind last chapter? You'll see more of her next chapter. And wow, Linagarnix has a short fuse. So does Darkus. Speaking of which, is this the end for everyone's favourite young evil dragon? Not saying anothing. Peace!**


	12. Stuff Happens

Ch. 12: Stuff Happens

A figure snuck into Woodburrow, unseen to all, as thick, gloomy clouds swirled overhead, rendering everything difficult to see.

Slobber Tooth paused and sniffed. "Slobber Tooth smell something weird," he commented. "It's probably your own butt, don't mind it," Terrafin snorted. "Okay," the dinosaur grinned, and the silent observer wiped their invisible brow. "That was too close," they thought, continuing to creep through Woodburrow.

In an instant, they spun and adopted a combat stance as someone bumped into them, expecting at any moment to be discovered and have to make a desperate run for it.

It was Jet-Vac. "Oi, come on Stealth Elf. I thought especially you'd never stoop so low as to bump into me while invisible," he groaned. The figure remained silent. "What? Not even going to answer me?" the bird snorted.

Not a sound was made. "Fine, have it your way, elf," And stormed off, around the invisble figure, who breathed a sigh of relief, rapidly moving away from hi.

Jat-Vac made his way around the large, enchanted fountain in the town square towards Woodburrow's docks to see how the Dread-Yacht was doing - a lot of Jet-Vac's earliest missions had been on board the Dread-Yacht, and he was rather fond of the old ship. As he turned to climb up the stairs, he stopped and started at the sight of Chill and Stealth Elf at the top of the stairs and walking downwards towards him. "Bloody hell, there's no way she could have gotten there that fast," the Sky Baron gasped with widened eyes. "The only way that's possible is if there's two of her, and that obviously can't be right, eh?" he muttered to himself, still staring at the ninja. "Unless . . . . ," He trailed off, still thinking through the ramifications. "Whoever that was _wasn't_ Stealth Elf, but if it wasn't, then who?" he finally realised.

"Something fishy's going on here, and blimey, I'm gonna find out what," he vowed to himself.

Eventually, the hidden arrived at the area where the surviving apartmentcrafts were docked. Having done that, they quickly located the only one that was quite literally paved with gold - Trigger Happy's. The door to the room seemingly slid open without cause, and closed itself a few moments later. There was no sign that anyone had ever been there.

X

A melodious, cacophonous horn blared from further down the pier, where Sharpfin's ship had docked. "Whuh?" Flynn blinked. "You called that thing out?" Sharpfin demanded. "What were you thinking? That thing is dangerous! It almost cut my ship clean in two last time you put your hand on that thing's tiller!"

"No no no no no, mi amigo," Fiesta interrupted him with a wave of his ghostly hand and a waggling finger. "It's called a _steering wheel_ ," he corrected the Dirt Shark.

"I don't care if it's called a frying pan without a handle, you are not using that thing! You could knock this whole island out of the sky!" the admiral exploded. "Well, then it's a good thing that's what we're trying to do, right?" Fiesta pointed out. "Not until after we've refuelled!" Sharpfin groaned. "Relax, relax, mi hombre. It'll be fine," the ghoul grinned.

"Uh, what'll be fine?" Flynn decided it was time to interrupt.

"Mi muy mejor amigo, my very best friend," Fiesta grinned. The cacophonic horn blew again, and Fiesta grinned. "Music to my ears," as a faint blue glow appeared in the evening gloom behind the trolls on the pier.

The Amazon trolls were sent sprawling, several being knocked off the pier as a strange, three-wheeled craft rammed into them without mercy. "Esta el Crypt Crusher!" Fiesta exuberantly declared. "Isn't she a beaut?"

The Crypt Crusher looked like a weaponised, mobilised coffin. One large wheel was mounted on skeletal hands at the back, which glowed with an underworldly blue light. The front half of the coffin was covered by a black bonnet decorated with a stylised skull, with exhaust pipes protruding from the rear, and the back half was open and comprised of a deep-set seat with a steering wheel lined with satin pillows. Two small wheels were mounted on either side of the front of the coffin. Flynn's aw went slack. "That is so totally awesome!" he freaked. Sharpfin rolled his eyes.

"You have got to tell me where you got that thing!" Flynn demanded. "Sorry buddy. Trade secret," Fiesta winked, climbing behind the steering wheel and gassing the engine. The Crypt Crusher roared to life, and the assembled trolls behind them suddenly looked a lot less certain of themselves, staring down that vehicle.

"It's party time!" Fiesta exuberantly shouted and tooted his blowhorn. Tessa, Sharpfin and Flynn hastily took a step backwards, out of the line of fire, and moments later the car rocketed forwards, ramming into the Trolls and sending them sprawling.

Several of them tried to run away towards the edge of the island, where their airships were docked. "Nu-uh, no one's leaving this party until I'm sure that everyone's had their fill!" Fiesta grinned like a maniac, twisting the car to point at the troll's balloon escape and firing bolts of blue energy at the balloons, puncturing the bags and causing them to slowly deflate and droop from the piers. The trolls stopped dead in shock.

"Well, he sure knows how to throw a party," Flynn commented. "Shouldn't you be helping him?" Tessa suggested. "Do you honestly think I could keep up? I'm a pilot, not a marathon runner. I'm at home behind the tiller of a ship," Flynn explained, then looked back down the pier towards Sharpfin's aircraft. "Hey, that gives me an idea," he slyly grinned.

X

"You can't go soft on Star Strike," Terrafin told Spyro. "Why not? She's a nice girl," Spyro retorted.

"She's gonna be a Skylander, for crying out loud! What kind of villain will take her seriously if she can't even finish a sentence?" the Dirt Shark demanded. "Master right! Right?" Slobber Tooth helpfully put in. "The only way she'll beat up a villain is if they fall off the island laughing at her," he continued.

"Which is just as effective as any other way. Besides, it might be good for them to underestimate her, then she'll get the drop on them," Spyro pointed out. "And that trick will work more than once?" the Earth Skylander derisively snorted. Slobber Tooth hooted and turned his head away in perfect imitation of Terrafin, who looked down at his rookie with a sudden smile. "I'm startin' ta like you, kid,"

"I'm not a kid! I'm thousands of years old! I'm adolescent!" Slobber Tooth toothily grinned. Terrafin blinked in surprise. "Uh, right,"

"Okay, I hear you," Spyro nodded. "But don't underestimate us Magic elements," he pointedly added. "Wouldn't dream of it," Terrafin nodded. "Then again," he added with a pointed look at Pop Fizz, who was walking towards them down the street. "Okay, maybe Pop Fizz isn't exactly a shining star of principle, but Magic in general -"

"Hey, guys!" Pop Fizz shouted. "Have you seen my trainee?" he asked. Terrafin cast Spyro a pointed look, and Spyro shook his head in exasperation. "I've looked everywhere, and I can't find him!" he continued, turning around and scratching his head in exasperation. Spyro and Terrafin blinked in shock. A tiny Dune Bug was clinging to the straps of Pop Fizz' backpack, screaming something. No one could hear a thing because he was so small.

"I got this," Terrafin sighed, picking himself up and plucking the tiny insect rookie off Pop Fizz. "I found him," he snorted, presenting the miniaturised Skylander to his mentor. "Oh, yay! Thanks, Terrafin!" Pop Fizz obliviously grinned, dashing away. Terrafin moaned and glared at Spyro. "Okay, fine. I'll pick up the slack a bit on Star Strike,"

X

"Okay, it's the red wire, right?" Flynn asked Tessa. The two had snuck away from Sharpfin, who was occupying himself with staring after Fiesta as he terrified the Amazoness trolls with the Crypt Crusher, shaking his head and muttering silent prophecies of doom and destruction if Fiesta continued to drive 'the monstrosity', and were now attempting to hotwire his ship. "Haven't you ever hotwired a boat before?" Tessa asked skeptically. "I've never seen volt monitors and power conduits like these before. This thing must be a custom job, one-of-a-kind type stuff. I recognise some of the parts, but they're all mixed up. I can only really guess here," Flynn explained. "But I think this should do it," he grinned a moment later, pulling two exposed wires out of their places near the ignition.

The pilot promptly shrieked in pain as the electrical current coursed through him for a few brief seconds, before he managed to twist them together, return them to their place and gratefully let go. The engines beneath them promptly roared to life, and Tessa cheered, before wincing at Flynn's blackened plight. Spotting Tessa's concerned glance, the pilot shrugged it off. "Not the last time I've gotten shipped electrocuting on a work, and it won't be the first," he commented, before slumping over the tiller with a soft groan. "How 'bout you drive?" he suggested.

At the edge of the pier, Sharpfin heard his craft's engines come to life. "What in blue blazes -" he cursed, cutting himself off and running towards his ship. "Ay! What the blimey do you think you're doing!" he demanded, dashing back down to his craft. "Eek!" Tessa squealed. "Flynn! Which button makes this thing go?" she demanded. "I dunno . . . blue one?" Fkynn moaned in a daze. With no better ideas, Tessa depressed the blue button with her thumb.

Sharpfin staggered up the gangplank and saw what they were doing. "Oi! Quit that! That's the windscreen wipers! I only have so much cleaning fluid!" he commanded. Tessa blinked in surprise and removed her paw from the button. Sharpfin stormed over in anger. "You two were trying to steal my ship! You'd better have a good explanation for this!"

"We were trying to help Fiesta take down the trolls!" Tessa protested. "Oh, like hell you were," Sharpfin growled, brandishing his cane. "And even if you were, I'm not letting my ship anywhere near that rolling death-trap! I was NOT exaggerating when I said that it knocked an entire island out of the sky once!" he exploded. "Off my ship! Now! Get that bird of yours and get out!" he demanded, then paused and spotted Flynn lying on the ground. "At least he got what was comin' to him," the Dirt Shark grinned. "But . . . . what about Fiesta?" Tessa asked. "Look at him!" the Shark snorted. Sure enough, Fiesta was blowing up the Troll camp left and right. "He's having more fun than he's had in ages, trust me. He'll be fine and you do-gooders can consider these trolls routed! Now get out of here!" Sharpfin snapped. Flynn awkwardly picked himself up. "I don't think we're gonna win this one, Tessa. Besides, if we don't leave now we'll be flying home in the dark," he pointed out, gesturing at the setting sun. Tessa sighed. "You're right. Come on, Whiskers, let's head home,"

X

"That was insanely anti-climactic," Tessa complained. "We didn't even get to see Fiesta finish kicking those villains' asses!" she continued.

Flynn placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Hey. Take it from someone with experience, you can't always be the hero. Sometimes, you just have to be the good guy and hope that that's enough," he advised her. Tessa nodded in understanding. "Thanks, Flynn, that's . . . really smart," she nodded in gratitude. Flynn sighed and put his hands behind his head. "Eh, y'now, greatest pilot in all of Skylands is always willing to impart some of his greatness,"

Tessa awkwardly chuckled. "You know, there's something I have to admit. I was skeptical about you at first. You just seemed so, unbelievable," she shrugged, not really certain on how to finish the sentence. "I, ah, usually come off that way," Flynn nodded, feeling somewhat self-conscious for the first time in his life. "But now, after spending the day with you, you're amazing! Sure, you made a couple of mistakes, but everyone does now and then. I really get why they call you the greatest pilot in all of Skylands," Tessa sincerely smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling herself in for a hug. "Uh, yeah. The greatest," Flynn gulped.

X

Trigger Happy cheerfully whistled as he let himself into his room. The moment the door closed, a figure appeared out of nowhere in front of him. "Whaargh!" he shrieked in surprise.

"Hello," The figure walked over to his prototype car. "Nice ride," they commented, swinging open the bonnet and pulling the engine out. Pipes were ruptured and cords snapped. Trigger Happy stared in dismay. "You won't be needing this," the figure told him, and sliced it in two. "Now, you've got a choice. Come with me, or face the alternative,"

Trigger Happy gulped. "What's the alternative?"

"You don't want to know,"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Okay, finally done with the Flessa fluff sub-plot. Sharpfin's dropping some major hinters of ominousness, and, honestly, I kind of liked the build-up and let-down with hotwiring the windscreen wipers. :P**

 **For the record, just in case this is confusing everyone, the Swappers and Mesmeralda are in a different time zone right now. Which is why it's the late evening in Woodburrow and only the afternoon where they are. And sorry for the weak chapter title, I honestly had no idea what to say.**

 **BlazinVoid, I . . . . guess? He was just kind of unlucky.**

 **LiteFox, nice to see you again. Remember what we were talking about? Mesmeralda's gonna get there . . . . eventually. XD Aww, thanks. "I AM KAOS! FEAR MY GIANT FLOATING HEAD OF DOOM!" Sorry, but Fiesta's gonna be the only SuperCharger for now. It's mostly Cores and Swap Force in the first part. But the SuperChargers are way more important when we reach the second part of the trilogy. So look forward to that.**

 **Guest, why would I need a secret message? Dpeft bsf sfevoebos. :P**

 **Sparky, of course I know what Kaos forgot. And yes. That was a very bad joke. -.-**

 **Anyways. Trigger Happy might just be in trouble. Next time, well, everything that I said last time because I forgot I had to put in all this. Peace!**


	13. Dispatched

Ch. 13: Dispatched

Whirlwind couldn't stop grinning. "We're going to the Winter Keep! OMG, OMG, I am so excited!" she squealed, then frowned at Pop Thorn, who was hastily scribbling down notes on a notepad that had apparently come out of nowhere. "What are you doing?" she asked in confusion. "Observing you. Just because you aren't my mentor doesn't mean that I can't learn from you," Pop Thorn commented, and Whirlwind nodded, looking over at what he was writing down, and frowned. "How to squeal like a schoolgirl, straight from the _horse's mouth_?" she glared. "I am not a horse, I am a dragoness that is jhalf unicorn. Completely separate things," she told him, snorting and rolling her eyes like a frustrated equine, and strutting away. "Horse is in denial," Pop Thorn carefully noted.

X

"Hey. You alright, Cyn?" Roller Brawl asked sympathetically. "I'm fine. I just miss Spyro," she sighed. Roller Brawl flopped onto the bed next to the dragoness. "I feel ya," she nodded. "Must be harsh,"

"Thanks," Cynder sighed, looking at her trainee. A brief flicker of nervousness flitted across the vampire's face, but it was gone and her casual smile returned within a moment, so Cynder decided she must have imagined it as Roller Brawl stretched and made herself comfortable. "So, whaddya think of Master Eon?" she conversationally asked.

"He's great. A little absent-minded, but both his head and his heart are in the right place. He's not around much anymore, since he's kinda a spirit, but he always shows up when we need him. What, haven't you met him?" Cynder frowned. "I thought all the Skylander trainees were hand-picked by the Portal Masters,"

"Not all of us," she shrugged. "You can also go through a test system to be selected for consideration by Cali, this old Mabu called Buzz, and a weird guy called Grizzo. That's what I did," the vampire explained.

"Cool," Cynder nodded. "Does Eon ever talk about any of the past Portal Masters?" she asked. "Occasionally, why?" the dragoness frowned. "I heard a lot of rumours and legends and stuff about the guy who came before the guy who trained Eon," Roller Brawl shrugged. "Wasn't his name Choh or something?"

"Naah, I'm pretty sure it was Hoh," Cynder frowned. "Who was the guy who trained Eon? Hoh's apprentice?"

"Nattybumpo," Roller Brawl told her. "Yeah, him. He just upped and vanished into nowhere, like, seven years ago. I joined the Skylanders a bit after that, actually. No one knows where he went - but that's actually normal for Portal Masters. They have a habit of vanishing into a peaceful tenure of retirement where no one can find them when they're done with their job. No one's seen Hoh in fifteen years. As soon as he was confident Nattybumpo could handle things, he vanished,"

"Weird," the vampiric rookie shrugged. "Eh. I like Loni a lot more than I did Eon. The old guy was nice, but so distant. Loni's a lot easier to get to know and hang out with, y'now?" Cynder shrugged. "Well, she is still a teenager. That's pretty unusual in itself, most Portal Masters are old men. What about the other one, Scott?"

"Not so easy to be around," Cynder sighed. "He's so intense. I'm pretty sure he wants to dethrone Spyro and take charge of the Skylanders," she sighed. Roller Brawl muttered something that sounded oddly like, "Hot a pen,"

"Eh. We won't be at the other side of Cloudbreak until tomorrow morning, so we should sleep," Cynder shrugged. Roller Brawl glared at her in irritation, and after a moment, Cynder realised her mistake. "Oh, uh, right. Vampires don't sleep," she paused awkwardly. "Sorry,"

X

"Okay, I'm bored," Freeze Blade declared after an hour of ogling the puppets. Grilla Drilla muttered, "About time," under his breath, and the SWAPlanders continued on their way through the town.

"What?" Mesmeralda demanded in shock. "They were supposed to keep watching that puppet show fir the next two weeks!" she fumed in frustration. Behind her, her puppets sighed and shook their heads in perfect unison.

"Sun's starting to set, maybe we should make camp, find a place to stay," Boom Jet recommended. "Yeah, there'll be a hotel somewhere. And we've got plenty of loose change after finding that little present earlier," the ape nodded. "Why are there so many of those little present boxes scattered around Skylands?" the Water Skylander absent-mindedly wondered. "Probably something to do with the Arkeyans," Grilla Drilla snorted. "Besides, treasure hunting has become so popular because of that that apparently they've actually set up some archaeological guilds,"

"What males you say that? I haven't heard about anything like that," Freeze Blade frowned. Grilla Drilla snorted and jabbed his thumb at the sign on the building they were walking past. It read, 'Captain Bristlestache's Treasure Hunters Guild,'

"That place looks nice," the ice cat commented, the picture of total obliviousness. "Maybe we should rent a couple of rooms there?" he suggested. "Why not?" Boom Jet sighed. "Hey, it'll be better than camping under a tree," Grilla Drilla optimistically pointed out, and his companions followed their teammate into the building.

Mesmeralda cackled with evil glee. "Perfect. Now I just need to sneak into that building when they're all asleep and board up their door! They'll be trapped in their room forever and be forced to eat food from the minibar! And they'll be so upset about how much it costs them that they won't even think of shouting for help! It's brilliant!" the sorceress grinned.

Several of the people nearby her in the street cast her disturbed looks and hastily backed away.

X

Jet-Vac furiously paced around the roof of the conjoined crafts. "Unbelieveable. Who the hell do they think they are, locking me out of my own house? What did I ever do deserve this?" he fumed. "I bet that annoying little Pufferthorn is sleeping on my perfectly kept bed right now, and probably shredding the covers to bits to boot! What in blazes is the world coming to, eh?" the Sky Baron demanded.

He stopped and absent-mindedly tapped his foot-like claw. "At least this gives me plenty of time to think about that invisible guy that bumped into me. Who in blazes was that?"

X

Pop Thorn tossed in his sleep, snuggling up to the soft, fur-lined pillows of Jet-Vac's bed. "So comfy," he muttered in his sleep, as one of his spines caught on the duvet and cut straight through it.

X

"I wonder where Spy Rise went?" Boom Jet questioned, pulling on a pair of boxer shorts that served as his pyjamas that he kept in his travel pack. Freeze Blade slipped on a set of striped flannel pyjamas, and the two turned to look at Grilla Drilla, who was pulling his armour off. The gorilla blinked at Boom Jet's eyes. "No matter how many times I see them, they still surprise me," he commented. "They're not that special," the pilot snorted.

"I wonder what his eyes are like?" Mesmeralda thought to herself from just outside the door to the room the three SWAPlanders were staying in.

"Don't you worry about him," Freeze Blade waved his paw as he hung his chakra from a convenient hatstand. "He's Spy Rise, he'll be fine," he winked, before flopping onto the bed in exhaustion. "Well, goodnight," the cat smiled, curling up and pressing himself into the pillows of the bed. Grilla Drilla watched with a soft smile. "He's so cute at times,"

"Yeah, yeah, keep your raging hormones in check, _Girl_ la Drilla," Boom Jet snorted, and the Life Skylander punched him on the shoulder. "That's not what I meant and you know it. He's cute like a little kitten you can't help but want to play with," he snorted.

X

"Morning, master," Loni nodded to the astral projection of Eon's disembodied head in her quarters as she woke up. "Greetings, my apprentice. How goes your training?" Eon politely questioned, looking towards a pile of books. "The magic's fun and all, but why do I have to study the history of Portal Masters? It's just a long list of old people with beards that could open portals," she snorted. Eon couldn't help but feel a little miffed. "Speaking as an old person with a beard, you ought to understand the wisdom that comes with age. I understand you lack age and experience, but you should not overlook it," the spirit advised. Loni immediately realised her mistake. "Sorry. I guess you're right," she nodded self-consciously. "It's just easy to feel like I've already done a lot, given that I helped the Skylanders save Skylands twice," Eon graciously accepted her apology, but couldn't resist throwing in a last jab. "As I recall, Scott did most of the work in restoring the Core of Light two years ago,"

Loni groaned, recalling her unfortunate reaction to a little-known law of magic in Skylands two years ago. "Don't remind me, master,"

The law in question had been created many thousands of years ago. Humans were indigenous to Earth, a world that for the most part was without magic. As a result, unlike most beings humans acted like sponges of magic in Skylands, literally sucking the life out of everything they came across. To prevent this, the Ancients had woven an enchantment into the very fabric of Skylands, which caused any human that entered the magical centre of the universe to spontaneously become another species entirely. Loni and Scott were both human Portal Masters who had come to Skylands after Kaos had destroyed the Core of Light. Scott had gotten off lightly, becoming an elf, and had little trouble adjusting to the change. Loni, though, had become a dragoness, and it took her quite a while to get used to her new form. And in the process, she had gone a little over the edge.

"You have completely accepted it by now, though?" Eon asked for confirmation. "Yep," the cerulean dragoness smiled, flicking her tail nonchalantly. "So, is this a social call, or what, master?" Loni asked. "Not exactly. You are aware of the impending eruption of the Cloudbreak Volcano, yes?" the elderly Portal Master asked. "Please, it's the only thing anyone's been talking about for the past month. How could I not be?"

"I have been watching carefully, and I believe that evil intends to strike when the eruption commences. I want you to be ready when that happens," Eon explained. "I am sure you are aware that normal Portals of Power do not function around the Cloudbreak Volcano, correct?" Loni nodded. "An old friend of mine has been constructing a specialised Portal that will be able to get around the magical energies that prevent normal Portals from working. I want you to take a team of Skylanders and go to the Molekin Mountain to retrieve it, then go to the Cloudbreak Islands and set up a camp wherever you feel is best," Loni smiled at this, it meant that Eon was trusting her to make a plan for herself. Previously, he would have given her very specific instructions and hand-picked the Skylanders he thought best to go with her.

"Do you feel that you are capable of doing this?" Eon asked for confirmation. Loni nodded and the elderly spirit smiled. "Good luck, young Portal Master,"

"Thanks, Master Eon. See you," Loni paused. Eon did not appear much, as it took a lot of energy for him to appear in the real world, and he preferred to keep plenty of energy in reserve in case a crisis occurred and his counsel was needed. This was his first visit in two months.

"Whenever," she finally decided. "I am always watching you, young Portal Master. I will be here when you need me," Eon smiled at her, before vanishing into stardust, which in turn rapidly winked out of existence. Loni smiled too, before dashing away down the stairs to leave the building.

Eon watched the draconic Portal Master with a smile from the astral plane of existence. He would probably never admit it, but he cared deeply for the teenaged dragon. Eon had never had a wife or family, but he often regarded Loni as something quite similar to a daughter. And he intended to be a good parental figure.

He liked to think he succeeded.

X

Mesmeralda grinned gleefully as she silently floated down the corridor of Captain Bristlestache's Treasure Hunters Guild towards the room where the SWAP Force had taken up lodgings for the night. "Now to board them up!" she grinned. "Or you could take one of them hostage," one of her demonic puppets suggested. "Now what would that accomplish?" she snorted in irritation. "Wouldn't the other fifteen SWAPlanders be so angry that one of their own had been captured that they'd totally forget guarding the Volcano in their quest to retrieve their comrade?" the minion reasoned.

Mesmeralda thought for a second, then shook her head. "No no no, that's stupid. Boarding up the door makes a lot more sense," she snorted. "Besides, you're a puppet, what would you know?" And with that, she continued to creep along the hallway until she reached the end of the hall, where the door to the SWAPlanders' rented room. Snapping her fingers, a plank of wood appeared in one of her hands, nails in another and a hammer in the third. The spellcaster levitated the board into place, then pulled a nail from her own fingers and magically held it in place . Mesmeralda raised the hammer and slammed it into the nail, knocking it a few millimetres into the wood and creating an extremely loud BANG.

Heedless of the noise it created, she continued to hammer on the nail a d create a ruckus that was extremely likely to wake up anyone who was sleeping nearby. Say, on the other side of the door.

The door suddenly swung open, revealing a sleepy-looking Boom Jet. The Skylander blinked wearily, not really comprehending what had happened. "Mesmeralda? How nice of you to come visit," He paused. "Wait, you're evil . . . . . right?" he sleepily slurred.

The sorceress groaned. "Great, now he's going to tell the others I was here!" she panicked. "I have to shut him up somehow,"

 _"Take him hostage,"_ a voice whispered. _"You know it's the best thing to do,"_ the voice continued. "I suppose," Mesmeralda sighed, before reaching out and snatching the groggy pilot's wrist. Behind her, one of her puppets smiled. She had finally listened to him. "You're coming with me," she hissed. "Coming where? To a party? Guys, dream-Mesmeralda's taking me to a party," Boom Jet shouted over his shoulder, before she clamped another hand over his mouth. Without further ado, she rushed back down the corridor, abandoning all attempts at silence, and rapidly left the building. "You'd better hope your stupid plan works!" she snapped at the ingenuitive puppet.

"Boom Jet?" Grilla Drilla slurred, looking around, before tottering out of bed and closing the door. The ape shrugged. "Eh, he probably went to the toilet,"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **I'm sure you all noticed that I changed the title. I think 'Hidden Shadows' is a lot more fitting. :)**

 **So I think this chapter went pretty well. Seriously, two chapters later than I planned, I managed to get Boom Jet kidnapped. I guess I'm good at dragging things out. There's a future in literature for me yet. :)**

 **LiteFox, love your dedication, but you read a little too much into it. Slobber Tooth is animalistic, he has a really good sense of smell. He could smell anyone as easily as anyone could smell Stink Bomb. Honestly, Stink Bomb would probably make him pass out. XD But in all seriousness, it COULD have been Stink Bomb. I'm just saying it wasn't necessarily him. And of course leaving someone with Pop Fizz is a bad idea. But it's not like I can do anything about that. Blame whoever decided to make Super Gulp Pop Fizz.**

 **Thanks, Best OC Maker. Whirlwind's mostly next chapter, when we get to Winter Keep. This was kind of a Portal Master-centric chapter.**

 **samjax, oh you bet. Jet-Vac os gonna get in a little trouble. Or he might become a surprise hero. Or both. You never know. And yes, the villains are fine. We all know you're evil. XD**

 **SnowPrincess, when I feel like it. :P**

 **Next time, well, we get to Winter Keep, Molekin Mountain and LiteFox's Man Cave. And I have a prize lined up for anyone who can guess who Eon's friend who's making Loni's new Portal for him is. Hint: The second Chapter 13 of the franchise. Which is ironic, as this is chapter 13 of the story, XD Peace!**


	14. Freezes and Festivities

Chapter 14: Freezes and Festivities

Loni strolled into the cafeteria. "Okay, who should I take with me to Molekin Mountain?" she wondered, reaching around with her left wing and using it to scratch the scales underneath her mouth. "Times like this I miss having a chin," she absent-mindedly commented.

Looking around, the Portal Master wasn't exactly thrilled with her options. The Life Skylander Shroomboom burped after swallowing a slice of meat-lovers pizza, and Boomer followed suit after downing a cup of coffee. "BOOM-BOOM!" the psychopathic troll shrieked, pulling out a stick of dynamite.

Suddenly a hulking figure placed his hand on the Tech Skylander's shoulder. "Nu-uh, Boomer. No boom-boom," Hot Head admonished him. Loni smiled, maybe the Fire Giant would be a good person to take with her.

"Not withoutta healthy dose o' oil to fuel the flame!" he suddenly grinned, dousing the stick of dynamite in oil and setting it ablaze. The Portal Master groaned in disappointment, surely there had to be someone around who'd be responsible enough to take to meet Eon's friend without shattering their faith in the Skylanders forever?

But a moment before the dynamite exploded, it froze solid with a thunderous clap of four solid, blue hands. "No one's blowing anything up on my watch," Slam Bam demanded, snatching the frozen explosive and throwing it through the open window of the cafeteria. Loni smiled. Slam Bam was a good figure of responsibility. A good figure of responsibility that was being stared down by an incensed golem of oil and lava. "Ya sure ya wanna face-off with the Giant that got the element built to beat yours up?" Hot Head demanded. And in an instant, another, equally massive figure arrived to back up the yeti. "Are YA sure ya wanta stare down the biggest hammer this side o'the multiverse?" Crusher roared at his fellow Giant.

"The multiverse theology is little more than a theory. The potential existence of designational 'alternate universes', so to speak, has and likely will never be proven," Drobot logically pointed out. "Ah don't give a hoot!" Crusher glared at the Tech dragon. "Utilise your personally designated methodology as you see fit," Drobot shrugged, unconcerned. Loni frowned thoughtfully, Crusher was rather rough around the edges, but his heart was in the right place and no one was better with a hammer. Especially one that large. Maybe she should take him too?

Hot Head stared daggers at the Earth Giant, who returned the favour with the menacing blue gems that served as the golem's eyes. "Boys, take it outside," Flashwing derisively commanded. "I don't want the cafeteria ruined,"

"Common, Boomer. Let's take Mr. Maker downna peg," Hot Head glared, walking towards the door. Crusher followed, menacingly brandishing Crusher, his hammer.

"Oh wow, Flashwing, that was so incredibly amazing!" Warnado gushed in unrestricted awe. The crystal dragoness glared at the turtle with severe annoyance. "Lay off already, you big windbag," she groaned, flicking her tail in irritation and turning away with a snort. "But I live for my beloved! Why does she reject me so?" Warnado overdramatically sobbed. "Because you're a lunatic lover who doesn't know when to quit!" the crystal dragoness snapped at him. Loni winced. "Maybe I should get the poor guy out of here," she muttered. "There's typically three Skylanders to a team, and I doubt I'll need more, so if I'm taking Warnado and Slam Bam, who else?" she wondered, continuing to look around the mess hall. Suddenly, she winced yet again.

Brock and Thumpback were having an arm-wrestling contest. "By tha Twin Spouts of Ocea-Major-Minor, ya going down, ya old geezer!" Thumpback glared at the reformed Goliath. "WRONG! I'm winning this fight!" Brock retorted with equal intensity. Both simultaneously increased the pressure, and a splintering noise was heard as the table cracked underneath the supersized fury. "You can do this, Thumpback!" Wham-Shell cheered. "No way, mon, Brock has it in da bag!" Zook angrily glared.

"I'll have to remember to ask Sprocket to make a new table when I get to Cloudbreak," the Portal Master sighed, until her eyes alit on a hooded elf levitating in the corner. "Maybe I should bring Hex?" Loni considered, until she imagined what sort of impression Hex would make on Eon's friend. "No way!" she squealed. "Okay, I need someone honourable, upstanding, impressive, and noble. Who have we got like that?" she finally decided to ask herself. "Chop Chop isn't here . . . of course! Ignitor!"

She immediately ran over to the fireproof table constructed specially for beings of the Fire element who couldn not extinguish their flames, like Ignitor, and found him feasting on pickled plums. "Ah, such sweet sorrow. Why must something that tastes so good be tinged with such sadness? I am certain that your unpickled family shall miss you dearly, plum," the Fire knight told the plum he was holding, before popping it into his mouth and swallowing. "So unfortunately delicious,"

"Ignitor?" Loni interrupted his musings on the atrocities he found himself forced to commit in order to survive, and he immediately stood to attention. "Yes milady? I am at your command," Loni grinned, Ignitor was the perfect example of honour, duty and loyalty. She couldn't think of anyone better to provide a good impression of the Skylanders. "I need your help. I'm, ah," she remembered to talk 'olden times-y' to suit Ignitor's preference, "I am finding myself in need of a suitable escort to transport me to the, ah, domain known as the Molekin Mountain, and naturally I could think of no braver a knight that yours truly. Would you do me the honour of providing me with your services to this end?"

Ignitor nodded and his fires flickered brighter. "I will do whatever I must to aid the plight of a fair damsel such as yourself, milady," he agreed. "Oh great," she sighed, before addressing the knight. "Excellent. Follow me, kind sir. We must be off,"

"As milady wishes," the knight agreed, dutifully following his 'damsel'.

She approached Slam Bam next. "Hey, Slam Bam! I got a job for you, I need a team of Skylanders to escort me to Molekin Mountain to pick up a new Portal of Power. I'm meeting a friend of Eon's and I need people who would make a good impression. Interested?" she rapidly explained to the yeti, who grinned and donned his goggles. "Not like I had anything planned, so why not? Cowabunga, let's go!"

"We just need to get Warnado, then we can leave. MG's still here, right?" Loni asked Drobot off-handedly. MG was the Artificial Intelligence product of Ermit's modifications to his Arkeyan Robot. "Affirmative. I calculate high likelihood of his presence," the Tech dragon replied. "Thanks,"

With the Fire and Water Skylanders in tow, Loni walked towards Warnado. "Warnado? Do you want to come on a mission to escort me to Molekin Mountain?"

The turtle blinked. "You need an escort?" Loni frowned. "It's standard procedure for Portal Masters travelling on business to take an escort of three Skylanders with them -" Warnado interrupted her. "I know that, but what I'm saying is, _you_ , need an escort," The Skylander made a valid point. Loni was by no means a gladiator, but she could hold her own in the sparring ring and as a Portal Master, had dominion over what was referred to as the 'warm' end of the Elemental spectrum - the Elements of Fire, Life, Air and Magic. Scott, as her opposite, could use the 'cold' end of it - Earth, Water, Undead and Tech. In addition to those, admittedly limited, elemental abilities, she was capable of using her ability to create Portals offensively as well as passively. For example, what might happen if a portal were to open in front of a charging Goliath Drow and then transport him to five metres from the wrong side of the edge of the island? Or a portal opened in front of a tank's barrel and then reopened inside the tank's cockpit?

Loni sighed. "It's more for the sake of appearances than any practical need," she elaborated. Warnado shrugged. "I ain't got anything better to do, and maybe if I do this, it'll impress Flashwing enough to accept my love for her!" he grinned broadly. Loni awkwardly sweatdropped. "Uh, yeah. Sure. Let's go," she suggested.

X

Roller Brawl yawned as she woke up. "Morning," Cynder greeted. "Like, what time is it?" the vampire yawned, strapping on her skates. "Pretty early," Cynder told her. "It'll be sunrise in a couple of minutes,"

"Cool," Roller Brawl nodded. "I'm going outside to watch the sunrise," she decided, pulling her helmet on and skating towards the door to the balcony. "Aren't vampires, allergic to the sun or something?" Cynder frowned.

"Naah, that's just an old legend, the sun doesn't hurt me any more than it does you," Roller Brawl snorted.

Cynder yawned. "Okay then, enjoy. I'm going back to bed,"

Roller Brawl smiled, closing the door behind her, and surreptitiously peered through the window. She was rewarded with the sight of Cynder curling up and going back to sleep. Once she was certain her mentor was asleep, she pulled out a device that looked a lot like a miniature animal's skull wit several buttons on it, and, holding it up to her ear, made a call.

"Hello? This is Pinwheel. Thunderstorm, do you read?" Roller Brawl whispered into the device. There was a burst or static, before a disguised voice was audible. "Pinwheel. Good to hear from you, I was getting worried. Do you have something to report, or are you just checking in?"

"I'm fine, chill. Jeez. Gotta be quiet, though, my 'mentor' is in the other side of the wall I'm leaning on. How's my cousin?"

"Don't worry, Quick Step is totally fine. He's heading back here now. Any sign that the dragoness has been influenced by _him_?"

"Nope. She seems totally clueless about what's going on behind the scenes. Hey, has Smasher finished the new Portal?"

"Ages ago. Sneak away and get back to HQ first opportunity, there's something here for you that you'll just love,"

"Thanks, Thunderstorm. Hey, so if I'm watching the west of Cloudbreak for any moves he might pull, who's watching the north, south and east?" she asked.

"I'm en route to the north as we speak, but I can't risk telling you more. The line's been encrypted pretty good, but god knows what kind of code-cracking tech _he'_ s got working for him. Sorry. But suffice it to say that we have it covered," Thunderstorm told her.

"Got it. Pinwheel out," Roller Brawl grinned, closing the phone and looking at the rising sun on the horizon. "You gotta admit, that's sweet," she grinned, before turning around and swinging the door to get back into the room - and coming face-to-face with Terrafin, who had a pleasant grin that showed every last one of his menacing teeth on his face. "Who was that you were just talking to?" he asked, the epitome of politeness.

Roller Brawl didn't hesitate and punched him in the soft flesh of his face. Terrafin was caught off-guard and flopped backward, falling onto his back and wincing as he crushed his own dorsal fin. "What was that for?" he moaned, before Roller Brawl stabbed him with a needle. "Sorry," she whispered as Terrafin closed his eyes and softly moaned. "Thunderstorm says hello," she whispered with a maleficent grin, before dragging the Dirt Shark back into his own room with obvious effort and lifting him onto the bed. "Lose some weight, you big lug," she hissed in irritation.

X

"Finally! We're here!" Whirlwind grinned, leaping out through her door and landing in a pile of soft snow. "Man, I missed the cold and snow," she sighed.

"I know what you mean, I like the heat but the cold is cool too," Scratch agreed.

"Are you gonna play in the snow too, Jet Stream?" Pop Thorn asked with a sweet smile. "No, and if you know what's good for you, you won't either. We're here on business, not to play," Jet-Vac pointedly glared at the two female quadrupeds, strutting past them with Pop Thorn following at his heels like a kicked puppy. "But I wanna!" the Pufferthorn whined. "We can't always do what we want to. I for one want to leave this island and never see it again, but as honourable Skylanders we have to make that sacrifice, as it is our duty," Jet-Vac told Pop Thorn, still looking straight ahead. "Fine," Pop Thorn sighed, following his mentor.

Another door seung open and Dune Bug, thankfully back to his normal size, burst out and collapsed to all fours, shuddering and heaving, before vomiting all over the snow. "Eew," Whirlwind gulped. "Whoa, I didn't know you got motion-sickness," Pop Fizz commented. "I have been lying, ill, on your couch for the entire journey, clutching my stomach," Dune Bug protested. "I thought you were just sleeping," Pop Fizz frowned. The scarab moaned.

"Dune Bug's morionsickness strikes again," Star Strike sighed with a little amusement as she and Spyro disembarked. "This is a regular thing, then?" Spyro asked. "Every time he leaves solid ground," the magician sighed. "Note to self, don't send him to rout any sky pirates," the dragon noted with a concerned glance at the beetle.

"Whirlwind? Ach, it's good te see ye, lassie!" a voice suddenly called, and Whirlwind looked up in excitement. "Avril? Is it really you?" the hybrid asked in curiosity. The Skylanders looked over to see a short elf with light blue skin and wearing armour, casually carrying a halberd that was longer than she was tall. "You bet ya furry rump it is, lassie! Ye should come to tha museum, we've all missed ya plenty!" the elf exuberantly declared.

"Why are you at Winter Keep? Where's Duff?" Whirlwind asked in confusion.

"Eh, e's in the hospitul. They called me in to replace him. He broke his toe and don't wanna walk. It's kinda pathetic, but any excuse tah quit starin' at frozen old bones be good enough for this lassie," Avril winked. Whirlwind looked up towards the massive tower in the centre of the Keep, at the top of which was a massive statue of her with a glowing rainbow of light at the tip of her horn. "Did they build that in honour of you?" Scratch asked in awe, and Whirlwind nodded. "Ya got that right, lassie. This gal 'ere gave us the Illuminator, which banished the curse o' darkness from the Keep several years ago. We built tha' statue an' mounted th' Illuminator on top'o it in honour of 'er," Avril explained, and Scratch was suitably awed.

"Do you think I'll get a statue of myself someday, Jet Stream?" Pop Thorn asked hopefully. "A little squirt like you? No way," Jet-Vac snorted, and Pop Thorn pouted.

"Come on, y'all, let's show ya to what ya gonna be guardin'. The ship's on the other side of the Keep,"

"Wait, if the Ancient we're guarding isn't in the Keep, then why were we told to come here, eh?" Jet-Vac demanded. "Cause the Keep's a much nicer place to spend a fortnight than the Frostfest Mountains," Avril nonchalantly told him. "Now, let's get moving afore y'all freeze ya tootsies off,"

X

Grilla Drilla moaned as he woke up and looked around. "Freeze Blade? Boom Jet? Where are you?"

The ice cat skated in. "Grilla, I can't find Boom Jet. He wasn't in the toilet,"

"Maybe he went for an early-morning stroll?" the ape suggested. "Maybe," Freeze Blade frowned. "But wouldn't he be back by now? It's, like, nine in the morning," he sighed.

Grilla Drilla frowned. "Wait, nine in the- we only rented this room until nine! We were supposed to have cleared out by then!" he panicked, rushing around and packing up everyone's bags in a frantic flurry of activity. "Thanks for packing up my stuff, Grilla," Freeze Blade conspiratorially grinned, taking a seat on one of the beds. "Where is that blasted Skysurfer?" the ape demanded.

X

Terrafin groaned as he woke up. "I had the weirdest dream last night. Someone was telling me, ' _Lose some weight, you big lug_ ,'," He bared his arms and pectorals. "This is all muscle! I don't need to lose weight! Right?" he asked with an appealing glance at Slobber Tooth. "Nu-uh, boss. You doing fine," the dino-like beast toothily grinned. Terrafin smiled, until the word 'boss' registered, and he groaned, remembering the fiasco with Drill Sergeant. "Oh, don't you start too," he sighed in irritation.

A/N

 **A/N**

 **This chapter's a little shorter, but hey. Two updates in the same week, woot!**

 **Warnado's behaviour towards Flashwing was kind of based on Juvia and Gray from the anime Fairy Tail. "Oh, my beloved Gray, why will you not accept my love?" I just thought it was so funny I had to use it. XD Come to think of it, I would imagine the Skylanders mess hall to be a lot like the Fairy Tail guild hall's main room. Lots of eating and drinking and fighting and an old man with a beard and a lot more power than you'd expect from his appearance watching it all but rarely getting involved. Does that make Loni Lucy? Then who's Natsu? XD**

 **Seriously, come to think of it, the parallels I've accidentally created are ridiculous. Eon and Makarov, Loni and Lucy, Scott and Laxus, Natsu and Spyro, Terrafin and Gray (ish, Terrafin doesn't have a Juvia fawning over him . . . . yet. :P), Hugo and Levy, Natttybumpo and Prett, and . . . . okay, I do not imagine Hoh as a little girl like Mavis, but not a bad similarity there either.**

 **Just for clarification, all of the Cores from Swap Force are still rookies at Cloudbreak, and the Cores from Trap Team have not been recruited yet. So I was stuck with only being able to use the eight Giants and the twenty-four Cores who were not selected to go to Cloudbreak as Cloudbreak Skylanders. And while I'm at it, MG is an abbreviation of 'Machine Ghost', which is who the NPC version of the Arkeyan Robot in question was known as during the fifth level of Giants.**

 **And for the record, EVERYBODY who reviewed guessed that Eon's Portal-making friend was the Oracle, so you all win the grand prize of . . . . An imaginary box of nothing! Feel proud. :)**

 **Oh, and 'Quick Step' is also a codename for a character. 'Pinwheel' would be too, but we all already know that Pinwheel is Roller Brawl. :P**

 **LiteFox, knowing you, you're gonna love Avril. ;) What happened to Chill's other arm? And sorry, but no more shoe sales. Mesmeralda is more of a joke character - she's a leglGess spider lady that dresses like a schoolteacher, of course I'm gonna have fun with that. No offence to spiders everywhere.**

 **"Oi! I am not a schoolgirl! Sure, I'm hardly an adult, but I ain't never been to school and I don't plan on it!"**

 **Guest, yeah. Exactly. Not like I've never read Eon's backstory and only know about Nattybumpo from that Spyro's Adventure Story Scroll or anything.**

 **Sparkbutt, I honestly can't remember. I know I got the concept that special Portals were needed around Cloudbreak for some reason or other from somewhere, ages ago, but can't remember whom where or when. Oh well, probably isn't important.**

 **Also, remember back in, like, Chapter 2, I asked if anyone could guess who the mystery man and his daughter were? Someone finally responded with the right answer to one of them in a review! Woot!**

 **Next time, the Frostfest Mountains, the Molekin Mountains, and the Mancave which is probably underneath a mountain. Hey, I'll call the next chapter 'Making Molehills out of Mountains'! Whaddya all think of that? Peace!**


	15. Making Molehills Out Of Mountains

Chapter 15: Making Molehills Out of Mountains

"Cogshine, how's the Portal going?" Linagarnix asked once more. "I'm smashing the Petrified Darkness to reduce it to dust. We'll need that dust sprinkled all over the Portal to provide that kick. But we still need the pure power," the hybrid reported. "I'll take care of that. Have fun," the Dark Portal Master snorted in irritation, and left. "I wonder where Darkus is?" She muttered to herself.

X

"Milady, I have seen the Great Molehill in the distance," Ignitor reported. "Good - and it's the Molekin Mountain, not the Great Molehill," Loni patiently told the knight. "My apologies, milady. Is there anything else that I can do to serve you, milady?"

"Umm," Loni awkwardly paused as she tried to think of something to say. "Din't worry about it, kid. This guy's just always like that, ya know what I'm saying?" Slam Bak grinned, wrapping an arm around his comrade. Ignitor awkwardly looked at him. "Prithee, please remove thine hand from mine armour," he politely requested and wished that the Arkeyan Robot had a below decks.

Warnado was staring into the sky, front paws on the edge of MG's cockpit, lost in a daze. "Oh, Flashwing, even though we are apart I know our hearts beat as one," he sighed.

X

Flashwing frowned. "Why do I suddenly get this weird disgusting crawling sensation inside my scales?"

X

"Doo de do, do do do," Kaos hummed. "Note to self, find a new minion to hang around me all the time and be pointless. Glumshanks is getting boring," he sighed with a glare at his unappreciated butler, who groaned in disappointment. "Master, is there something we should be doing?" he suggested. "Plotting to take over Skylands or something? The Cloudbreak Volcano is going to erupt in a mere eleven days, sir. This is a massive opportunity,"

Kaos snorted. "Definitely not, Glumshanks. Her Royal Motherness is definitely cooking up some fiendishly underhanded scheme involving that volcano,"

Gkumshanks paused. "And you don't want to get in her way with your own plan?"

"Of course I _want_ to, but I can't! Every eye in Skylands is watching that volcano, it's the perfect distraction. Those Skylosers will all be so busy stopping whatever nonsense she cooks up that they probably won't even notice what I plan to do! And that will be their demise!"

"But, uh, sir," Glumshanks trailed off. "What do you plan to do?"

Well, I, uh," Kaos paused. What _did_ he plan to do? "I'll be back in one moment," he declared, rushing off to his castle's study, where he snatched up his copy of 'One Thousand and One Evil Ways To Rule Skylands', and flipped it open to a random page. "An army of the most dangerous and despicable villains Skylands has ever seen? What an awesomely good idea! Thank you, book, you've come through for me as always," Kaos hugged the book, gently stroking it's spine. "But where to get all of these villains?" he wondered, before inspiration struck. "Of course! That Cloudcracker Prison place! There's got to be a thousand tinpot terrors trapped in it's crystal walls! But where is it?" Kaos fumed. It was the one thing he didn't know about the fabled Cloudcracker Prison - it's location. He stomped back to the main room, where Glumshanks anxiously waited. "Glumshanks! I want you to run a global scan for Traptanium! We're going to find Cloudcracker Prison!" he shouted.

"Sir, we, ah, don't have anything that can scan the world for Traptanium," Glumshanks informed him, and Kaos cursed, snatching up 'One Hundred Legends of Skylands' once more and opening to the index. "Let's see, there has to be something in here that can find Traptanium," he frowned, before shrieking, "Ah-hah! Legend #28! A magical crystal hidden in the Skyhighlands that can point the way to anything valuable! Traptanium is the most rare and valuable mineral in the world, so a place built entirely out of the stuff has to be worth a not-so-small fortune! It's perfect!"

"Sir, the Skyhighlands are really high up in the stratosphere. The air's too thin for most airships to be able to stay in the sky. We'd need some kind of rocket to get up there," Glumshanks pointed out. "Your naysaying is getting annoying, Glumshanks," Kaos snorted in irritation. "We'll just build a rocket. How hard can it be? We'll just get the Greebles to do it,"

"Sir, you spent most of our coffers on the giant statue," Glumshanks indicated the statue of himself hunched over, supporting Kaos, "and your subscription to Minions Monthly. We can't afford to buy the parts we'd need to build an entire rocket. Sir," Goumshanks paused for effect. "We're broke,"

Kaos blinked. "Crap,"

X

Spy Rise panted as he walked along the precarious rocky ledge that led to the Man Cave's entrance. "What idiot built this place here anyway?" he demanded, carefully balancing to avoid falling off the thin path of earth and rock that led into the bottom of a tornado Free Ranger had created around the Man Cave. It was extremely effective, the only way into it that wouldn't get you torn to shreds was through the bottom, where there was a hole in the funnel, as the tornado extended upwards into the Skyhighlands and most ships couldn't get that high without depressurising and falling out of the sky. But that one way to get in was rather tricky, as the bottom of the funnel was quite narrow, and this unfortunate situation contributed immensely to Spy Rise's current short-temperedness. But, as the SWAPlander finally got into the eye of the storm, where the Man Cave was situated, he reflected that the view was always worth it.

The island chain was large and rather funnel-shaped, and had everything to cater to the sixteen SWAPlanders' individual needs. Due to the fact that their missions often ended in bringing back a capricious amount of wealth, either taken from thieves or given by thankful townsfolk as rewards, the Man Cave was large and funnell-shaped, with several islands chained together, many of which had been installed by individual SWAPlanders to suit their own personal styles and wantings, connected by a maze of bridges, elevators and the occasional slide. Spy Rise shook his head, looking at the latest addition suspended a couple of kilometres above him. Wash Buckler had recently routed a pirate smuggling ring.

X

The pirate ship, painted blood-red with black sails, soared into the terrorised town's docks and the people clustered in fear, worried that the infamous SWAP Force had failed in their objective and the threat of the pirates would continue to terrorise their town.

That was until a bright blue Mermasquid swung down from the bow on a thick, long rope and landed with little visible effort on the pier with a massive grin on his face and cutlass in hand. He bowed to the assembled townsfolk, who were watching in amazement. "The threat of the pirates will haunt you no more!" the Water Skylander declared exuberantly.

The mayor bustled to the front of the crowd, heaving a sack of gold behind him. "I cannot thank you enough, Skylander! That is amazing! I hope this is appropriate compensation for your trouble," he smiled, shoving the bag into Wash Buckler's hands, who regarded the bag with a faintly disgusted look. "Is something wrong?" the mayor anxiously asked. "Not really," he sighed, looking back up at the pirate galleon. "I'm just a little sick of being given _money_ for helping people. Tell me, ah," Wash Buckler twirled the tentacles of his moustache. "What's going to happen to that ship?"

"Well, it'll probably be chopped up and turned into firewood," the mayor shrugged.

Wash Buckler grinned, and gave the money back to the mayor. "I'd like to buy that ship,"

The mayor blinked, but no matter how he turned this over in his head, there was no reason to refuse. He didn't lose a dime, there'd be no need to pull people away from their jobs and waste weeks to get rid of the ship, and the resident Skylanders would be happy with them into the bargain. "I suppose that's okay, but, ah, what could you possibly use it for?"

X

Wash Buckler pranced around the deck of his new ship, shouting out orders to imaginary crewmates, and declaring challenges to foes that only existed within his mind. "You there! Batten down the hatches! Raise the sails! We have to reach port afore nightfall or the kraken shall drag us to the depths of the sky!" he declared, pointing at empty air with his cutlass and seemingly expecting it to obey his commands as Spy Rise climbed up onto the deck. "If you're quite done with your delusions, we need to talk,"

"Didn't you have a team?" Wash Buckler questioned. "That's what I want to talk to you about," Spy Rise sighed. "I want permission to start going on missions solo,"

"What? Hey, now, Spydey, we've talked about this," Wash Buckler started, but the Spyder cut him off. "This time, you're going to let me talk and not just prattle on about how the crew of any good ship all needs to work together," he commanded.

His leader sighed and sat down. "Fine. Guess my boat's gonna fall to the kraken," the Mermasquid groaned, staring over the side in depression at the empty air beneath the galleon.

Not for the first time, Spy Rise questioned the mental health of his commander.

X

"Okay," Kaos spread a giant map of Skylands across the floor. "We are here, near the Cloudbreak Islands," He indicated a point a little to the left of a ruby-shaped segment in the middle of the map. "As everyone knows, the Cloudbreak Volcano is in the very geographical centre of Skylands. And since it's also in the middle of the Cloudbreak Islands, the Cloudbreak Islands are by extension fhe middle of Skylands. Now, Skylands is split into nine sections. North, Northwest, West, Southwest, South, Southeast, East, Northeast and Central. In the past - Glumshanks? Glumshanks, you are paying attention, right?"

Glumshanks, who had been staring at the floor in boredom, rapidly snapped to attention. "Yes, sir, I am,"

"Good. Keep it that way," Kaos nodded. "In the past, we have pillaged the South, Southeast and Southwest sections of Skylands. My mother and her pets have pillaged the North, Northeast and Northwest sections. And that bloody Hektore menace pillaged the West sector," he groaned at the thought of Hektore. "I hate that demon. Almost as much as I hate Eon,"

"Uh, sir, what about the Underworld? The Undead are all filthy rich," Glumshanks pointed out. "I don't put stock in that. Where does all that money come from, anyway? But regardless, even if that were an option, how would we get there? We'd need a power source of ten jillion thunderbolts to break through the barrier. And I don't think that the Cloud Kingdom will be very sympathetic to my cause," Kaos snorted. "So, we steal from the East?" Glumshanks frowned. "Idiot! No one steals from the East! Because of that!" Kaos pointed to a dot on the map, marked 'Palace of Light'. "That is the Palace of Light, home to the Core of Light and the Skylanders' main home base! It would be like trying to steal from Dragon's Peak while the entire dragon army garrison is there!" the Dark Portal Master shrieked in anger, fuming.

"Uh, sir, the dragon army garrison isn't there right now, them and the Acting Dragon Commander Flavius have gone hunting some kind of monster. The Dragon's Peak is being commanded by the old, weak Dragon King Ramses and a tiny military detachment. All their accumulated wealth would be easy pickings, sir,"

Kaos raised his eyebrows and looked towards a spot in the South section of the map. "Really? Fascinating," He snatched up the microphone and began barking orders to his few remaining troops. "All troops, prepare to move out! Prepare the airships! We're going dragon gold hunting!" he declared. Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "Oh, and make sure you pack the evilisers,"

X

"Ach, 'ere we are, lads an' lassies! The Frostfest Mount'ins!" Avril declared and the eight Skylanders crowded onto the front deck of the Frost Elves' airship to get a good view,

"Whaddya mean, eh? There's nothing here but a steaming pile of freezing fog!" Jet-Vac hotly declared. Whirlwind shivered, but smiled. "I know, isn't it lovely?" she grinned.

"Ah, dun't worry! They're 'ere somewhere, we just gotta figure out where! B'sides, the pilot knows what 'e's doing. Ye just can't take on diehard experience and expect ta come out on top, ya know what I mean?"

"She's right," Spyro told the Air male. "This is a teaching moment, young grasshopper," Pop Fizz sagely told Dune Bug, who blinked in surprise and confusion.. "Listen closely and do not allow distractions to cloud thine fo- ooh, what's that shiny thing?" he cut himself off and pointed to a glint in the distance. "It's the light'ouse! That's the first sign that we're gonna reach the Frost Ancient!" Avril shrieked in excitement. Whirlwind whooped, and Scratch followed her lead, trying and failing to mirror her mentor's enthusiasm. "Eh, it ain't that special," Jet-Vac shrugged. "Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill, eh,"

"You said it, Jet Stream!" Pop Thorn grinned.

X

The Molekin Mountain, simply put, looked like a giant molehill. There were dozens of seemingly tiny holes in it some of which had minecart tracks leading out of them. Slam Bam tapped Ignitor's shoulder. "Hey, look man, there's, like, tiny moles pushing tiny carts with tiny rocks in them! What are they doing with all those tiny rocks?" he asked in confusion.

"My deepest apologies, kind sir, but I am quite honestly clueless," Ignitor shrugged. "They're just moving them. They're in the way of the valuable gold and jewels," Warnado explained. "I got it, man," Slam Bam toothily grinned. "Why did I bring the mad surfer?" Loni sighed to herself as the huge Arkeyan Robot landed at Molekin Mountain. "Thanks for the lift, MG!" the Portal Master shouted to the machine. "You are most welcome. Do you wish me to wait here, or shall I return to the Palace of Light?"

Loni paused, thinking back to the last time she had visited the Oracle, and recalled how he had been capable of teleporting them back to the Dread-Yacht. "Wait here for six hours, and if we haven't returned by then, go to the Cloudbreak Volcano," she instructed, and MG nodded. "I don't see why not,"

"Thanks. Come on, you three!" she called to the three Skylanders, who rapidly followed after her. "Cowabunga!" Slam Bam shouted, forming a surfboard from ice and sliding down the gangplank. "As milady wishes!" Ignitor hotly declared, following the yeti. "For Flashwing!" Warnado finally shouted, and Loni groaned at that last one. "Is it not clear that she does not return your feelings towards her, squire? You ought to find another who shall love you back with a passion befitting your own," Ignitor advised the Air element, who shook his head in irritation. "No way I'm giving up my beloved!"

"Hey, like, lay off him, man. He's got a crush, you can't change that, ya know what I'm saying?" Slam Bam placed a hand on Ignitor's shoulder, before yanking it away in shock. "Agh, hot!"

Loni walked up to a nearby Molekin, and politely asked, "Excuse me, do you know where Diggs is?"

Diggs was the Molekin who had taken them to the Oracle in the past. Loni hoped that he could take them to the god again.

The Molekin took one look at the dragoness and squealed, "Argh! Please don't eat me!"

Loni blinked. "I'm adolescent, I, uh, can't eat you. I'm not big enough. Besides, why would I want to eat you? You look yucky . . . dear god, what am I saying? I'm not eating someone!"

"You aren't? Oh, phew. Diggs will be in the head offices downstairs. He got a promotion. Moving up in the world, y'now? Tell him I said hi!" the Molekin was suddenly all relieved smiles, and waved them on their way. The three Skylanders followed her, Ignitor casting the dragoness increasingly wary looks. Loni gulped at the thought of what she had just said.

X

"And there ya have it, folks!" Avril exuberantly declared as the airship docked at a large wooden platform near the top of the skyscraping tallest mountain in the Frostfest Mountain range. "Welcome to Ancient's Peak. Right now we are as high as we can safely fly in an airship. A few hundred more metres or summat and we'd be in the Skyhighlands!"

"I can feel that," Pop Fizz shivered. "I, uh, a-a-a-agree," Star Strike stammered.

"Anyways," Avril shrugged it off. "Up there is the Frozen Cap, that's where the Ancient Frost Hound lives. If ya lucky, ya might catch a glimpse of him flying around!"

There was a somewhat awkward pause as all eight Skylanders craned their necks trying to catch a glimpse of the legendary Ancient.

"Ah guess he ain't around," Avril shrugged, before beckoning. "Come on, let's get out of the cold and back ta the keep!"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Hey, LiteFox! I really hope you liked what I did with the Man Cave. I got the idea from the way that in both Giants and SuperChargers, the Skylanders' base got attacked, by ghost pirates and the Sky Eater respectively. So I wanted a creative way to make sure that would never happen to the Man Cave. And what could be better than suspending the entire base inside a giant tornado?**

 **And I even found a fourth mountain to add to the mix! Dragon's Peak! Which is technically a mountain! Though I did ditch the idea that the Man Cave was a cave underneath a mountain, so . . . . oh well! Just three, then.**

 **Phoenix, okay then. Nope, not Spitfire. Keep trying.**

 **New Guest, I could care less about Mr. E.**

 **Also, if you were wondering about why Kaos is going after Cloudcracker Prison now, he can't pull off his evil plot with evilising the Cloudbreak Volcano because his mother is already doing something similar. So he's skipping ahead to what he would have done next year. :P**

 **Anyways. Next time . . . well, whatever the hell I feel like doing. Don't have much planned. I'll just see what comes up. :) Peace!**


	16. Who's A Real Man?

Ch. 16: Who's A Real Man?

"Why don't you get it? I handled that entire mission solo! The others just held me back! I only got anything done after I ditched them!" Spy Rise snapped at Wash Buckler, conveniently forgetting to mention the assistance of Snap Shot.

"That may be true, but you mustn't forget the entire purpose of the SWAP Force," Wash Buckler sagely told the Spyder, swapping their legs. Spy Buckler stared at Wash Rise in frustration, before swapping back. "The ability to exchange posteriors? Big whoop," he snorted.

"You know what they say. A happy crew is a crew that works together," Wash Buckler smiled. "I just can't work with them. They never take anything seriously. Lives could be in danger and they're partying their exchangeable asses off!" the Tech Skylander shrieked.

Wash Buckler put a hand on Spy Rise's shoulder. "I think I know how to calm you down,"

X

"Aw yeah, now we're talking. Drink that beer like a real man!" Doom Stone shouted, pointing at Rattle Shake and Rubble Rouser, who heartily guzzled down flagon after flagon.

The Man Cave'a main hall was at the very centre of the massive hurricane and constructed from an Arkeyan Robot's body, with limbs spreadeagled and carried by several Skylands carefully positioned where they could hold the machine's weight. The robot's interior had been hollowed out and replaced with several tables and a flat wooden floor that spread through the machine. The only exception was the left leg of the robot, which was suspended vertically and had several holes cut into it to act as a hangar. This robot was the original Man Cave, everything else within the tornado was an expansion added by the SWAPlanders and other inhabitants that had been accumulated over the years. It was just the attitude the SWAP Force took. Village destroyed by Kaos? Come live in the Man Cave! Orphan with no home? The Man Cave has extra space! There's always room in the Man Cave! As a result of this attitude, over time a populated village was built around the base, creating a secluded, mostly self-sufficient and somewhat small community with few permanent residents. The majority of people who lived there were refugees who needed a place to stay while their homes elsewhere were being rebuilt.

The 'cave' had also been likened to being the SWAP Force's personal homemade amusement park by some critics. Pomfrey LeFuzzbottom in particular took a rather scathing view of it's construction and the casual methods used by the SWAP Force in general.

"Isn't this a great party? Great for teamwork and comradery and just to celebrate being part of the gang!" Wash Buckler exuberantly declared, putting an arm around Spy Rise's shoulders. "Yeah. It's brilliant," the Spyder groaned.

Doom Stone spun over to the two. "Come on, brassbutt! Show us you're a real man!" he commanded, snatching Spy Rise's left wrist, being careful not to hold the one that had his grapple gun on it, and pulled them towards the bar. "This is completely ridiculous! Alcoholism is totally unrelated to manliness! Manliness is no more than a concept anyway!" Spy Rise protested.

"Enjoy the party! It's all for you, old chum!" Wash Buckler shouted over at him.

"Hey, Blast Zone, would you mind setting fire to this?" Fire Kraken asked his fellow Fire Skylander, holding up a thin firework. "Why, is there a problem with your own fire, my friend?"

"Drank too much punch," the Sparkler Dragon burped, snapping his fingers for effect. There was a fizzing noise and a puff of smoke, but no fire. "Very well," Blast Zone nodded, touching the end of the firework's fuse to the fire emitting from his elbow. "Now, which window do you intend to shoot it out of?"

"Why would I shoot it out a window? No one would see it outside! I'm gonna fire it off inside!" Fire Kraken grinned, flicking his tongue. "What?" Blast Zone breathed.

The fuse burnt out and the firework ignited, shooting towards the wall. It hit the wall at an angle and slid up the curved interior of the robot, arcing around the roof and soaring back down towards the other side of the hall, where it landed with a minute splash in Doom Stone's tankard of beer. "This is how a real man drinks!" the golem shouted, downing the entire tankard - and the firework - in one gulp.

"Uh-oh," Fire Kraken nervously swallowed.

Doom Stone suddenly burped, expelling red-and-pink sparks and flickers from his mouth fir a full ten seconds, which rained down on Rattle Shake and Rubble Rouser. "Like I was saying. That's how a real man drinks his liquor!" he declared, before burping again.

"Hey, has anyone seen Grilla, Boom Jet and Freeze Blade?" Stink Bomb absent-mindedly asked.

X

"Hotshot? This is Edge. I've got eyes on," Edge trailed off. "I'm really not sure what, but I could use your advice,"

"Edge? Good to hear your voice, I was starting to worry. No one calls me anymore," Hotshot lamented from the other end of the line, and Edge rolled their eyes. "That's because you're number one on _his_ hitlist. You're so badly wanted, you can't fart without someone who wants you dead getting a whiff of it,"

Hotshot chuckled. "Nice innuendo. Now, what's the situation?"

"A spider lady and a bunch of evil puppets is shipping a cage with one of those SWAP Force guys in it in a tiny airship. I don't think I want to know what they're doing with a locked up Skylander," Edge gulped.

Hotshot audibly groaned. "Tricky situation. See if you can help, but don't blow your co - get off the line! We're being traced, it's the Hunters! Thunderstorm's picked up a -" Edge cut the connection and swallowed nervously. "I sure hope no one traced my position. Or theirs - actually, I do hope they got my position. Then I could buy those two enough time to get on the move. Now, let's see what we can do about puppet lady,"

Edge took careful aim at the lock of the cage holding Boom Jet. An arrow was nocked on a bow, and the agent prepared to fire as, not far away enough for comfort, someone narrowed their reptilian eyes and hissed, "Ya ain't flying the coop on me this time, mate,"

A second before Edge could fire and free Boom Jet, an arrow whistled centimeters from her head. "What the -!" Edge shrieked, looking back towards where the arrow had come from. Their eyes went wide at the sight of a pale blue crocogator leaping out of cover and nocking another arrow to his bow. "This time, I won't miss!" Snap Shot shouted as Edge sprinted for cover, jumping into a small gulley where they would be safe from the crocogator's arrows. "That's right, ya li'l blighter, run away! I'll have your head stuffed and mounted on my wall someday, an' sooner rather than later!" he shouted, steadily advancing on the gulf that Edge was sheltered in. "Oh, and tell your bastard of a ringleader you-know-what's coming for him. You vagrants can't run forever!" Snap Shot fumed.

Edge stayed below and crawled towards their craft, knowing better than to respond to Snap Shot's taunts. Any speech would only give away their position.

"Fine, mate. Be that way. But a Hunter always brings home a kill," the crocogator leered.

A silver blur shot into the sky, whisper-silent, and Snap Shot cursed. "E' got away!"

X

"Question is, where do I start looking?" Jet-Vac wondered. "I s'pose I could get someone to give me a tour, or perhaps ask if anything unusual's been going on 'round here - but it might not 'ave been, I'm in a totally different section of Cloudbreak to that Woodburrow place now," he groaned.

"First order of business, transportation. Can't take the apartmentcraft, the rookie's sleepin' there and I can't have him taggin' along. Hmm," Jet-Vac thought for a second.

"Oi! You there!" he shouted at a nearby Frost Elf. "Ah, yes Skylander?" she responded, a little nervous.

"Is there an old airship or place where old airships are left anywhere around here?" the Sky Baron asked, trying to be polite as the civilian thought for a moment. "There'a a junkyard not far from the castle. Roundabout thataways, I'd guess," she responded. "Well, thank you kindly, ma'am," Jet-Vac nodded and smiled.

X

Kaos grinned as his armada advanced on Dragon's Peak. "Soon, soon! Soon, all of their riches will be mine! Muhuwahahahahaha!"

X

Suddenly, the doors of the Man Cave's main hall burst open and Grilla Drilla rushed in with Freeze Blade on his heels. "Guys! Boom Jet's been kidnapped!" the gorilla shouted.

This announcement threw the entire team into uproar. "What?" Trap Shadow demanded. "Who would dare do such a thing?" Night Shift demanded. "Come on, everyone! Let's go find him like real men!" Doom Stone shouted, banging his omnipresent halberd on his shield for effect.

"Hold up, everyone! Quiet!" Wash Buckler demanded, perching himself atop a table. "What exactly happened?" he growled, staring at Grilla Drilla and Freeze Blade, who quivered under the intensity of his gaze.

"We were spending the night in a rented room, and-and when we woke up, B-boomie had vanished!" Freeze Blade stammered nervously. "What makes you so sure that he didn't just leave early?" Wash Buckler frowned.

"Because he left this behind," Grilla Drilla somberly held up Boom Jet's beloved turbine. As one, the thirteen SWAP Force gasped. None of them could remember ever seeing Boom Jet without it. The turbine had practically been part of him. If he had gone somewhere willingly, he never would have gone without it.

"That settles it," Wash Buckler growled. "Someone has one of our own, boys. And what do we do when someone takes something that belongs to us?"

"WE TAKE IT BACK!" everyone shouted at once. Even Spy Rise joined in, swept away by the moment. "To the ship! We are going to find Boom Jet! And nothing will stand in our way!" Wash Buckler shouted, leading the charge through the doors of the Man Cave and towards the recently captured pirate galleon. A thunderous roar followed him. "AYE!"

"Wash Buckler, sir?" Magna Charge started. "Yeah?" the SWAP Force leader snapped. "Are you one hundred percent certain that utilizing a known pirate ship as transportation is a good idea? We should probably take some time to redecorate it," the Arkeyan Ultron recommended. "Curses, ya right, matey!" the mermasquid groaned. "Come on, men! To the paint depot!" Once again, Wash Buckler led the charge in a different direction, and another thunderous roar followed him. "AYE!"

X

"Well, this'll do nicely," Jet-Vac grinned. He was standing at the edge of a capricious junkyard, full of old airship parts. "I'm bound to find something serviceable in all this junk. Okay, nothing too large, needs to be able to be flown solo,"

Something to that end caught his eye. With a mighty heave he pulled a framework shaped like a giant bird's beak out of a pile of debris. "A SkyBike! Perfect!" he exclaimed. "Gonna need some fixing up, though," he awkwardly commented.

SkyBikes were popular contraptions among the younger members of Skylands' population. High-speed micro-aircrafts that rarely seated more than two people at a time, they were essentially just what the name implied; motorbike-like crafts that, instead of wheels, had propellers mounted in appropriate places to lift them into the air and various turbines or boosters to create forward thrust.

The one Jet-Vac had found, though, was missing it's engine casing, leaving the engine in plain view, and only had one turbine pointing downwards on the left side at a slight upwards angle. This model also had two horizontal-facing propellers on either side, likely for the purposes of steering. "Nothing I can't handle," the Sky Baron shrugged, quickly locating the ignition wires. "Figures there wouldn't be a key," Jet-Vac groaned, carefully prying the casing open and finding the wires that turning a key would trigger. He touched them together, completing the circuit, and was rewarded with the electrical engine roaring to life. "Perfect-a-rooney," the Sky Baron grinned, killing the engine and casting around the junkyard for appropriate parts he could use to get the SkyBike back in working order. He'd make it fly yet.

X

Snap Shot's phone rang. "Yello?" he answered.

A mechanical, synthetic, bur vaguely feminine voice answered. "Snap Shot. Did you get anyone?"

"Sorry, nada. Damn blighter got away on me. As usual," the crocogator groaned. The voice on the other end did likewise. "It sometimes seems like we're never gonna catch even one of them," she commented.

"Dontcha worry, Shifty baby," Snap Shot grinned. "All it'll take is one, then the rest'll drop like flies,"

"Urgh! I have told you before and I shall tell you again, my name is Gear Shift! And don't call me baby, you repugnant reptile. What happened to our code names, anyway?"

Snap Shot snorted. "I got bored of them. Anyways, tell the others to keep their trigger fingers at the ready. The volcano'll erupt in less than two weeks. And it wouldn't surprise me if they had something planned. Snap Shot signing off," he retorted.

X

"Free Ranger! Open the hurricane!" Wash Buckler commanded from the tiller of the newly rechristened 'S.S. REAL MAN', a hearty title that had been applied by Doom Stone in white paint before anyone could stop him, and the storm chicken perched himself on the edge of the ship's piranha figurehead, blades in claws.

As the sun set on a day gone by, Free Ranger swept his arms apart the omnipresent tornado surrounding and protecting the Man Cave parted just enough for the galleon to pass through, and it did. As the S.S. REAL MAN sailed towards the sunset, Wash Buckler cheered, "Let's find our teammate!"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **I know it's getting stupid, but once again I 'borrowed' the gimmick of a minor character from Fairy Tail. Elfman is this big macho guy who's always going on about being 'a real man', and I just drew a parallel with the Man Cave. From there, given that the SWAP Force are all male, it wasn't hard to decide that one of them should go on like that. Like I said before, the majority of the SWAP Force are minor characters, so there's nothing wrong with making the ones who will only appear two or three times a little gimmicky and one-note, right?**

 **Correct me if I'm wrong, Magicanus. -.-**

 **Anyway. I just had to decide on who. Originally it was Blast Zone, but he seemed too knightly for it. Magna Charge and Rubble Rouser didn't seem right, so I started working my way through. Having crossed Tech, Magic, Water, Life, Undead and Air off the list, I . . . . then went on to cross Rubble Rouser, Blast Zone and Fire Kraken off the list. So I was just left with Doom Stone. Whaddya know, gimmick application doesn't determine who's the right or wrong choice, just which choices are left. :P**

 **Sparkbutt, what EXACTLY do you mean by that?**

 **LiteFox, good to hear from you as always. I think the hollowed out Arkeyan Robot was particularly inspired. I hope you like the S.S. REAL MAN, because you'll see a lot of it in the next couple of chapters. Yeah, poor Glumshanks. :(**

 **Best OC Maker, thank you!**

 **Phoenix, I abandoned that for a reason. Don't make me go into it again. -.-**

 **Guest, who's Mr. G and why should I care?**

 **Anyway, the SWAP Force and their S.S. REAL MAN are sailing off to find Boom Jet. Will they prevail?**

 **Kaos is attacking Dragon's Peak for money. Will he pull it off?**

 **Jet-Vac is building a SkyBike so that he can pursue the mystery of the invisible person. Can anyone guess, based on the description I provided of the SkyBike he found, as to it's future/true identity?**

 **And will Edge escape Snap Shot and the mysterious Hunters organisation? Find out, next time! Chapter 17: Skyward! Peace!**


	17. Skyward

Ch. 17: Skyward

The colossal machine docked at the edge of Molekin Mountain, and MG extended a massive brass-plated hand to let the Portal Master and her heroic escort off. "Thanks for the lift, MG!" Loni shouted up to the robot. "I whole-heartedly praise your ability to make haste throughout the great basin of the skies," Ignitor told the robot. "Truly, 'tis the stuff of legends,"

"Do not mention it, it was my pleasure. I do not get out very much any more," MG calmly responded. "Do you want me to wait here for you?" he questioned in an emotionless tone of voice, for some reason looking directly at Slam Bam. The ice yeti gestured to Loni, deferring the response to her. "Actually, fly to Cloudbreak and wait for us there. We'll meet you at," Loni paused, trying to think of a location in Cloudbreak. "Iron Jaw Gulch," she decided. "Very well. I will meet you there," MG nodded, and, activating his thrusters, he flew off.

"I gotta know, sista, why Iron Jaw Gulch? If memory serves, that place is like a live jellyfish. Stay away from it or you'll get stung real bad, bro," Slam Bam questioned.

"It was the only place I could think of," Loni awkwardly confessed. "Cool," the yeti shrugged.

"So, shalt we make haste? The day grows old and the sun droops towards the horizon," Ignitor commented, glancing towards the cave that led towards the interior of the mountain. "Sure," Loni nodded. "This way!" she charged into the giant molehill.

X

"Lookin' good," Jet-Vac grinned at his construction. The SkyBike was mostly complete. A second turbine that was only slightly larger had been sourced and attached to the other side of the machine, and it may have been mismatched with the original but it would suffice. Luckily, the axles and gears that ran the propellers had remained intact when the framework of the bike had been thrown away, so it had been a simple matter to attach the replacement. The landing gear of the SkyBike, however, had been nowhere near as fortunate, so the Sky Baron had improvised helicopter-style runners on the bottom. Now, finally, he was making the final additions - a set of twin rocket boosters on the rear for forward propulsion. "Sure am glad the steering still works, wouldn't want to have to add that in as well," Jet-Vac wiped the sweat from his brow and tightened the final bolt.

"Now to see if this pile of scrap'll fly," he declared, climbing into the seat. The somewhat scorched plastic seat it had once possessed had been replaced by a soft red leather seat, and several plates pf metal had been welded into place using a welding torch the junkyard's owner had happily lent him.

"Deal is, anything you take out of the yard, ya pay for. I know yas is a Skylander an'all, but I gotta make a livin' somehow. Sorry! Hell, I'll let ya borrow ma welding torch for free," the owner had smiled at him. "Well, thank you kindly. I'm, ah, on detachment from the main forces in the West for the protection of the Cloudbreak Islands, and I need a set of propellers to get around, if ya know what I mean," Jet-Vac had smiled back at the owner and happily taken the torch.

The Sky Baron eagerly twisted the ignition key and listened to the engine splitter to life. The two main propellers revved up and started spinning, rapidly becoming transparent blurs. Slowly, but surely, the SkyBike lifted into the air as the electrical engine warmed up and the propellers accelerated. Jet-Vac whooped and gunned the engine, spinning in a circle towards the entrance and flooring the pedal, igniting the boosters at the back and creating propulsion that pushed him towards the entrance and the caravan the owner lived in.

The burly Frost Elf emerged out of curiosity and smiled as Jet-Vac paused the SkyBike nearby him. The Sky Baron pulled out his magical purse and removed a bag full of gold bars, throwing them to the man, who caught it with a grunt. "This is a little much, you don't need to -" Jet-Vac cut him off. "Keep the change, she's worth it!"

"Can't argue with that," he grinned. "Come back anytime you want, it's good for business! And tell those friends of yours the same thing! Especially that girl, she ain't half easy on the eyes if ya know what I mean!" he yelled as Jet-Vac soared into the sky. "Friends of mine?" he repeated in confusion. "Eh, he probably meant the local team. The Suave Force or whatever it's called," the bird shrugged, turning his attention back to his new vehicle and gunning the engine again. "HOWDY-DOO, THIS IS JUST GRAND!"

X

Loni shivered involuntarily as they went a little deeper underground. "Are you possessed of that vice-like grip which is known as claustrophobia?" Ignitor questioned. "Yeah, kinda," Loni nodded. "I guess it's a dragon thing, not liking enclosed spaces where you can't spread your wings," she shrugged, then paused. "How did you know? I never told you I had claustrophobia,"

"A good knight is always observant of both his surroundings and his compatriots," Ignitor nodded. "Ah, okay," Loni nodded.

"Are you sure you know which way to go?" Warnado skeptically questioned. Loni shook her head. "I'm just waiting for someone to pass us by so that we can ask for directions," she admitted. "Well, here comes someone, let's ask him," Slam Bam suggested, gesturing to an approaching Molekin.

Loni leapt forward and faced the Molekin, starting with a polite "Excuse me,"

She was cut off by the Molekin's shriek of terror. He suddenly cowered in a ball, covering his face with his massive flat palms and begged, "Please don't eat me!"

Loni blinked. "Eat you? No way, you look disgusting," she instinctively responded, before pausing and gulping. "Why did I just say that?" She muttered to herself.

Slam Bam stepped in front of her and approached the terrified miner. "Hey, hey, don't worry, bro, no one's gonna eat yas," he reassured the Molekin. "Can you tell us where Diggs is? We're looking for him,"

Apparently the miner found the four-armed ice yeti a more pleasant sight than the teenaged dragoness, because he picked himself up and gestured to a turn-off that lead deeper into the mountain. "Oh, Diggs? He's down there. He got a promotion. Moving down in the world, eh?" he grinned. "Thanks, bro," Slam Bam mock saluted, leading the charge towards the turn-off. "You're sure it won't eat me?" the miner quivered as Loni passed him. The Portal Master lightly slapped him with her tail. "I'm not an it," she growled.

The miner screamed and ran for his life, arms comically flailing in the air. Loni gulped and looked at Ignitor for support. "Was I too harsh on him?" she asked.

X

"Yo-ho, yo-ho, a SWAPper's life for me!" Wash Buckler cheered, trying to lead the other members of the SWAP Force in a sea shanty. "Yo-ho, yo-ho, the SWAP Force own the sea. Come on, mateys, sing it!"

"You got it, big bro!" Freeze Blade cheered. "Yoho, yoho, let's get ready to go! MC Freeze Blade's on the scene and he's ready to roll!" he shouted. "Who's next?"

"I'm up!" Doom Stone yelled. "I'm gonna rock this party like a real man would, so the microphone's mine and my rhymes are good!"

Hoot Loop promptly snatched the imaginary microphone from him. "I have now composed, this ballad of song," he warbled. "To declare that your rhymes are, simply put, wrong," he continued, pointing at Doom Stone.

"How dare you try, to steal my spot-laight?" Doom Stone demanded. "A real man won't back down, so I'm ready to fight!"

"A rap battle, is it? Well I can't say, that your pathetic skills are a problem for mae," Hoot Loop mocked. Wash Buckler groaned and stepped in. "Yo-ho, yo-ho, simmer down, mates. Sea shanties are about having fun, so let's put this behind us and be, uh, dusted and done!"

Hoot Loop shoved past his leader. "I'm so sorry, sir, but I just must confess, that Doom Stone's lyrics are one massive mess!"

"You think I'm so bad? You ain't so great! You just aren't a real man, you don't have a plan, and when I'm done with you, you'll be going straight down!" Doom Stone shouted in Hoot Loop's face.

"This rap battle is brought to you by MC Freeze Blade, coolest DJ this side o'the Cloudbreak Islands," Freeze Blade advertised.

"Don't interrupt me!" Doom Stone shouted. "No, don't interrupt me!" Hoot Loop continued.

"A real man won't stand for this!" the golem declared. "You forgot to rhyme," Freeze Blade pointed out. "Whatever! A real man doesn't have to rhyme to rap!" Doom Stone shouted. "You aren't even rapping anymore, you're just shouting!" Hoot Loop retorted. "Well, so are you! And a real man always practices what he preaches!"

"Well, at least they're getting along," Wash Buckler grinned. Behind him, Spy Rise facepalmed.

X

A silver-and-blue jet shot through the sky in a blur, and the female avian piloting it grinned. "Man, I love the thermals around Cloudbreak," she commented, before her sharp eyes spotted a small craft not too far away. "Who's that?"

X

Jet-Vac carefully maneuvered the SkyBike through the air. "I'm getting the hang of this," he grinned, then paused and looked over as a silver jet with an open cockpit pulled up beside him. "Nice ride," it's driver snorted, matching the SkyBike's course and speed with ease.

Jet-Vac blinked. "Whoa," he breathed.

She was beautiful, the way she leant over and cocked her head, the purple feathers on her face seeming to glow heavenly as the silver frill on her helmet shook in the wind. The male Sky Baron couldn't help letting out a sigh of adoration. "Well, aren't you a well-built hunk yourself?" the girl smirked. "Huh?"

Suddenly, the mirage vanished as the woman slapped Jet-Vac in the face. He reeled back a little, narrowly avoiding falling from the SkyBike, and blinked away his delusions.

"I said, 'Well, did you built that hunk of junk yourself?'," she demanded, getting testy. Jet-Vac blinked. "Oh, uh, yes, as a matter of fact. Just taking this little beastie out for her first test-flight, actually,"

"Looks right to me - you sure don't look like no pro mechanic. First ride, huh? What's ya name?"

"Jet-Vac. And yes, it is. You?" the male Sky Baron introduced himself.

"They call me Stormblade. I built this baby from scratch myself," she grinned. "Nice set of wings," Jet-Vac nodded appreciatively. "Oh, you don't know anything about good-quality planes, do you?" Stormblade snorted. "Not really,"

"Well, I always like a good project," the female Sky Baron frowned, looking back over the SkyBike. "And that thing could use some serious work,"

"Yeah. I, ah, pretty much just cobbled it together from whatever I could find," he confessed.

Stormblade took a look at her 'baby's' dashboard and her eyes widened imperceptibly. "Listen, I gotta go, but where are you staying? Maybe I'll drop in later,"

"Winter Keep. The place with the big statue of Whirlwind," Jet-Vac told her. "Ah, yeah, that. Got it. See yas around," Stormblade mock saluted, and her ship pulled away. Jet-Vac whistled. "Oh, she's a right beaut if ever I saw one,"

X

"Well, I do think that that went well," Kaos declared. "Indubitably, sir. We have easily enough gold to build a rocket that can reach the Skyhighlands,"

"Ah, good. Incidentally, Glumshanks, how long will that take my engineers to do?"

Glumshanks checked his noted and gulped. "Two weeks, sir,"

"WHAT?" the Dark Portal Master shrieked. "We only have ten days until the Cloudbreak Volcano erupts! I will not stand for that! Tell them they have nine! I don't care what they have to do, just get it done! And tell my agricultural department that they need to get on producing all the coffee they can for the engineers! I don't want them to close their eyes until that rocket is launching us into the Skyhighlands!" he declared.

Glumshanks saluted. "I'll get right on it, sir. I will inform you if any other problems arise,"

"Excellent," Kaos grinned evilly. "Well? Seconds are wasting! Get moving!"

X

"Thunderstorm, come in," Edge whispered into their radio. "What is it?" Thunderstorm testily responded. "Can you tell me where the rendezvous point is? Wait, are you still with Hotshot at home base?"

"No, I left. And there is no rendezvous because we can't risk meeting up! The Hunters have eyes everywhere and there aren't anywhere near as many of us as there are them. Plus you know how they like to gang up on us - but I'm gonna stop talking. The longer we're on the line the more likely it is that we're overheard. Still, stay away from me! Meeting up is too risky. I'll see you at home base after the eruption,"

"Got it. Edge over and out," Edge sighed and shut off the radio.

And somewhere else in Skylands, somebody else cursed as they lost the connection, but smiled. The renegades had used that frequency once, they'd use it again. "Sir! I've got a lock on their communications relay! And I don't think they detected my trace!"

X

"Ah, it's so nice to see you, ah, whoever you may be," Diggs greeted Loni and the three Skylanders. "It's me, Diggs. Loni. Remember? You took me to the Crystal Eye Castle to reclaim the, well, Crystal Eye?" Loni prodded his memory. "Ah, Loni. It's so good to hear your voice again. How have you been?"

"Fine," Loni responded casually. "We need to see the Oracle. He's building a specialized Portal for me that can be used around the Cloudbreak Islands, and I need to pick it up and get to Cloudbreak,"

"Well, now, there's no rush I'm sure. He's been around as long as Skylands itself, I think he'll still be there in ten minutes. Wanna cup of mud tea?"

"I thank thee for thine offer,. I shall be glad to partake in your culinary creation, kind sir," Ignitor nodded, accepting Diggs' mud tea. He promptly did his best not to choke on it, and, turning away, regurgitated the tea into a nearby potted plant. "A most," the knight paused, searching for the most polite way to phrase it. " _Acquired_ , taste," he finally settled on. "Oh, all right," Diggs sighed, seeing straight through Ignitor's hastily constructed niceties. "Follow me," he pushed past the foursome and walked down the dimly lit cavern. "The portal to the Oracle is this way,"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **Even though Stormblade is my favorite SuperCharger, her cameo wasn't just because I wanted to write her and was pressed for ideas, it does have plot significance. :8 I have a week and a half of story chronology to fill in with no idea how. I need to plan better.**

 **Also, I just kind of assumed Stormblade was a Sky Baron like Jet-Vac. It's never been confirmed what species she is, and we've also never seen a confirmed Sky Baron in canon other than Jet-Vac. So, yeah. 'Stormvac' will probably be a minor thing that's only really teased and never properly developed in future, since I can't quite see it happening with the situation I'm planning out. But don't get started on Spitfire/Stormblade (Spitblade? Stormfire? XD) I have another pairing planned for Spitfire when he eventually shows up. And for the record, my sister says it's really cute. XD**

 **Everyone was right. The SkyBike, with master mechanic Stormblade's help, will eventually become the Jet Stream. :)**

 **LiteFox, yeah. Catch up. XD Glad to see you're enjoying it. Gear Shift won't be back for a while, though. Oh well.**

 **Thanks for the support, BEST OC MAKER.**

 **No, Phoenix, I WRITE on a tablet. And ANY fire can turn blue if it gets hot enough, the blue fire in itself means nothing.**

 **Guest, I got nothing. Snap Shot is part of the mysterious Hunters. And yes, yes I am.**

 **Anyways, that just about does it. Sorry for the update delay, well, Christmas happened. XD Peace!**


	18. Whatever the hell I want

Chapter 18: Advancements and Additions

"Ooh, Wash Buckler?" Freeze Blade eagerly asked. "It's Captain, cabin boy. My ship, my rules," the SWAP Force leader commanded. "Yes, captain," the ice cat saluted. "Better. Now, what is it, kid?"

Freeze Blade anxiously looked towards a building perched on the edge of a nearby Skyland. There was a large neon sign that read, 'Cap'n Cluck's KING-SIZED Chicken!' in bright yellow letters mounted on top of it with a cartoonish picture of a scrawny-looking chicken dressed up like an admiral and waving a chicken drumstick in the air. There was also a series of windows with attendants in corny uniforms, the first of which had the words 'DRIVE-THRU' emblazoned above it. "Can we get lunch at the drive-through?" Freeze Blade eagerly asked, almost panting at the thought of the delicious fried chicken.

Wash Buckler thought for a second. "By Davy Jones' locker, why the heck not? Boom Jet, hard to port! We be docking at that there fast food joint!"

X

"Welcome to the Sanctuary!" Diggs declared as he lead them into an exuberantly decorated subterranean room. "From here, I can open a vortice that will take us to the Oracle," he explained. Loni blinked and thought back to the last time Diggs had taken Skylanders to the Oracle - she hadn't actually gone herself as she was still in training and Eon hadn't thought her ready for a proper mission at the time - and there had been no mention of a Sanctuary or a vortice or anything like this. "That ain't what happened last time, brohamma," Slam Bam frowned. "Yes, well, that time we were in a bit of a rush and did not have time to observe the proper rituals," Diggs explained. "Rituals?" Warnado skeptically frowned. "You aren't gonna have us all sitting in a circle holding paws and chanting some sort of spell, are you?"

Diggs impatiently shook his head. "No, no, nothing like that,"

X

Moments later, the five of them were sitting at the corners of a ruby Diggs had drawn in chalk on the floor, with Loni in the middle. "Now, everybody, repeat after me. 'Almighty Oracle, we beseech you to grant us an audience'," Diggs commanded.

"Almighty Oracle, we beseech you to -"

"Wait a second, how is this different from us all sitting in a circle holding paws and chanting some sort of spell?" Warnado demanded. "We're sitting in a square!" Diggs said as if that explained everything. "Completely separate things. Now, back at it! Almighty Oracle, we beseech you to grant us-"

"Alright, very well, I heard you the first time," a voice echoed throughout the room. And in less than a second, all five of them vanished.

X

"Hello, can I take your," the kitsune manning the reception window's eyes went wide. She trailed off at the sight of the SWAP Force crewing the S.S. REAL MAN. "Oh my gosh, you're Skylanders! This is so unbelievably awesome! I am serving real live Skylanders at Cap'n Cluck's!"

Trap Shadow tutted impatiently. "Can you just give us the fried chicken?" he irritably asked.

Suddenly a screech of horror filled the air and a miniature tornado swept on deck, crashing into Trap Shadow and bowling him over. The smilodon immediately snatched the tornado's leg and pulled it to the ground with him. As a result, a very annoyed Storm Chicken was glaring hatefully at him from a few centimeters away. "How dare you?" Free Ranger demanded. "Chickens are our friends! They are our brethren! They are -"

"Delicious?" Trap Shadow sarcastically finished the sentence. "Blasphemy!" the Storm Chicken declared, electricity sparking from his eyes.

"Freeze, swap with me. I need to get down there five minutes ago," Wash Buckler requested, and the young cat obligingly exchanged his legs for the Mermasquid's tentacles. Taking the opportunity, Wash Blade instantly skated at high speed down the stairs from the tiller and towards the two bickering SWAPlanders. Spy Rise watched in surprise. "Is he actually going to act like a capable leader?" he asked in shock.

"Bird-brained vegan!" Trap Shadow cursed. "Cannibalistic cat!" Free Ranger retorted. Wash Blade skated down towards them, and - with a deft turn went straight around them and turned to the kitsune waiting patiently for the order. "We'll have, ah, seven buckets of chicken, fourteen orders of fries, ahem, fifteen large drinks. One frozen cola slushie, two herbal poultice blendies, one lava smoo-" Spy Rise groaned and shook his head, tuning the Mermasquid out. So much for a competent leader, he reflected.

"And," Wash Blade paused and shot a quick glance back up at Freeze Buckler. "One kid's Clucky Meal with extra fries, no sauce and -" Wash Blade stopped as Free Range grabbed his leg. "Don't you dare order the six chicken nuggets," he hissed.

"And six chicken nuggets," Wash Blade resolutely placed the order. "Anything else?" the kitsune politely asked as he was pulled to the ground by the incensed chicken. "I just ordered enough food for fifteen people, you really want to give your kitchens any more to worry about?" the SWAP force's leader skeptically questioned, automatically deflecting Free Ranger's attempts to hit him. "I suppose not. Go through to the next window, but, ah," the fox girl winced. "That's a lot of food for them to prepare. You might be waiting a while," she cautioned.

"Got it," Wash Blade grinned from the floor, now wrestling with Free Ranger. "Need help, sir?" Trap Shadow offered. "Got a bola?" he responded. "Always carry a pair," the smilodon grinned, taking a pair of weights bound with a rope from his belt and casting them.

"I kind of meant for you to catch only him!" Wash Blade fumed from where he was bound head to toe to Free Ranger by the bola, utterly immobile. Trap Shadow guffawed, chuckling, "Whoops,"

X

"This is a nice place once you get past the cold," Spyro appreciatively commented. "Speak for yourself," Cynder shivered.

The two dragons were sitting on the edge of a balcony on Winter Keep. "Any headway on deciphering that piece of parchment? The logs of that mysterious unknown Skylander?" Cynder suddenly asked. "Nada. I need more clues, but I don't know where to look," Spyro sighed. "Well, we've got a week and a half. There has to be something we can do," Cynder frowned. Spyro thought. "Hugo and Cali didn't know anything, and Flynn only started working with the Skylanders five years ago after Sonic Streak retired," he listed. "What about that tree guy? Darbo or something?" his girlfriend frowned. "Arbo," Spyro corrected her, then realized the validity of the suggestion. "But yeah, he was buried under the Core for so long, he probably overheard all sorts of things! Cynder, you're brilliant!"

"First time anyone's ever said that sentence," the Undead dragoness sighed, but Spyro was too caught up in the moment to notice her sadness. "I'm gonna get a message sent back to the Core, there has to be a way for Argo to come here!" he declared, jumping up and dashing off. Cynder somewhat reluctantly followed him.

Roller Brawl appeared from behind a pillar and frowned. "The logs of that mysterious Skylander? Could he be talking about - no, no way. That's impossible - but what if he has somehow stumbled onto the truth, or at least part of it? Maybe I should make contact, explain the situation - no," the vampire anruptly cut herself off. "Hate to say it, but Spyro could easily be in league with him. I can't take the chance of the Hunters finding out anything that could lead them to the renegades," she decided. "Regardless, it has to be called in. Thunderstorm's my best bet, I'll tell him and first chance he gets he can pass it on to Hotshot," Roller Brawl finally settled on a course of action. "But I need to make sure I have my facts straight first," she continued, silently skating after Spyro.

Cynder was left alone, staring into the endless sky.

X

The S.S. REAL MAN advanced a few feet under Blast Zone's superheated guidance, stopping at the next window along where a young-looking black dragoness wearing a corny chicken hat awaited. "How much do we owe you?" Trap Shadow questioned. "That'll be five hundred and fifty-nine coins, sir," the dragoness nodded with a slight hint of annoyance. Trap Shadow instantly picked up on this and guessed that she didn't like her job, but needed it for some reason and her boss was forcing her to keep a happy face on. He procured the money and offered it to her. "Does Cap'n Cluck only employ women?" he asked with a grin. "Nope, all the guys work in the kitchen. Just only girls at the counters,"

"Well, that could just be a good thing," Trap Shadow paused to read the name tag strapped to the dragoness' chest. "Maya,"

"You flatter me, but I've got an even better catch for you," the dragoness smirked, reaching below the counter. "Oh?"

He immediately got smacked in the face by a cardboard box full of chips. "Catch," Maya smirked.

Free Ranger picked up a chip from the floor around the cat's head and pecked at it in a satisfied manner. "I like your attitude," he smiled at Maya, who immediately responded, "So do I,"

X

"Loni. Hello, young Portal Master," Octavius Cloptimus greeted Loni. "So you're the mysterious Oracle," Loni nodded. "I am Octavius Cloptimus. It is an honour to meet you, you will do great things," the Oracle nodded and gave the impression of a mouthless smile.

The Oracle looked like a massive pod with a dozen tentacles swarming around him. A single eye on a stalk rose from the front of his 'body'. "Will do great things? I see you finally got the hang of seeing the future, my old friend," Diggs smiled. "Diggs. Not quite yet, I can only see the near future. I must warn you, young dragon, be careful. There are forces at work that pose a grave threat to Skylands," the Oracle warned her. "What? But, with respect, sir, we will beat them, right? Everything will be okay, right?" Loni gulped, suddenly scared of the words the interdimensional being was saying to her. Octavius Cloptimus focused directly on her, his solemn gaze piercing her sky-blue scales and bringing a chill to her heart. "I cannot see that far ahead yet," he solemnly told her.

"Great lord of knowledge, surely this is not the truth? Some folly, some fabrication? Some mistake?" Ignitor practically begged the Oracle. "There is no mistake. I have not been wrong yet," Octavius told him.

There was a moment of stunned silence. Octavius Cloptimus suddenly broke it with an almost matronly air, declaring, "But in any case, whatever the situation will be you will be far better equipped to face it if you have your new Portal of Power. Specially and personally built to be able to penetrate the veil of magic around Cloudbreak and almost anything else that could interrupt the signal,"

"Yes," Loni nodded, banishing all else from her mind and focusing on the Portal. "Where is it?"

The Oracle suddenly looked almost awkward, which should have been impossible. "About that," he awkwardly paused, before making a confession. "It got stolen by time imps,"

X

The manager of the branch of Cap'n Cluck's that the SWAP Force had visited earlier watched in pride as his employees left at the end of the working day. But he paused as he realized that the most exotic recruit was missing. "Where's that dragon?" he frowned, thinking of the inky black beast that had recently been hired. "Maya!" he shouted through the establishment.

There was no response. "Where is she?" he growled to himself, walking out through the front door and locking it behind him. The manager rolled his eyes. "If she doesn't show up tomorrow with a very good reason for leaving early, she's fired,"

A/N

A/N

I'll admit, Loni's character is a little redundant now that Tails isn't here for her to be girlfriend to, but I needed a Portal Master and I just worked too hard on her character and frankly like her too much to just abandon her and come up with someone new. Seriously, thinking back the original version of Loni (she has changed a lot over the years, but regardless) was only the second OC I ever made. That counts for something, right?

{static - TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED}

Oh, bloody hell - the thing's broken. Anyway, a certain SOMEONE {angry glares} has had issues. The bit up there above was pre-written by Technow, as is his habit. So it falls to me to take care of his hobby. -.- I guess I did say I'd help him, but this? Blasphemy. Deep-fried shit on a priority skewer, I am not making a habit of this, you hear! Millicent Typhoon is not doing this multiple times! Now, if you don't mind I'm in the middle of a Doctor Who marathon and Planet Earth just got torn out of space and time so I want to enjoy it. Actually not a bad idea, that, but whatever. So peace, bye-bye, document submitter, post new chapter and name it whatever the hell I want. I'll get him to fix it later. Just so you all know, Epsilon says hi.

Also, that thing about Loni's Portal being stolen by time imps? Tech was just gonna hand it off to her, the time imps thing was totally my idea. Just saying! See yas never!


	19. Broken In

Chapter 19: Broken In

"Hello?" Roller Brawl spoke into her walkie-talkie.

X

Somewhere else in Skylands, a receiver was anxiously turned on. "Oh boy, oh boy! This'll be perfect! Okay, okay, calm down. You're a Hunter, this is important. I'm so excited!"

"Be quiet, you li'l monster, and listen!" someone else demanded.

X

"This is Pinwheel. Thunderstorm, do you read? This is Pinwheel. Does anyone read me?" Roller Brawl asked. Static burst from the communicator, followed by a voice. "Sorry, Pinwheel. Thunderstorm's gone dark, said there was a Hunter nearby. Edge is off the grid as well, no word," The voice paused and laughed. "Off the grid, heh. You're practically the only one of us on the grid, Pinwheel. Enjoy civilisation,"

Roller Brawl snorted. "Shut up, Horseshoe. You know I'd be at HQ or on patrol with the rest of you if I could, but Hotshot and the others need me here, keeping an eye on things in the official system. Still," the vampire grinned, thinking of her friend. "Good to hear from you,"

"You too, Pinwheel. Man, I'm really starting to get sick of these codenames," Horseshoe snorted. "You know why they're necessary. I was always the smart one, huh?" Roller Brawl joked. "That's why it's you getting chummy with the big shot good guys, not me. So, what's it like, hanging with the famous heroes?" Horseshoe snorted. "Very funny, old friend. Look, we can talk next time we meet up. This isn't a social call," she glared. "Fine, spoilsport," her friend snorted. "Spyro's found something, I think it's part of Hotshot's Skylander logs. Either way, it looks like he's getting suspicious, or at least curious. You need to tell Hotshot or Thunderstorm, decide whether to perform an extraction," Roller Brawl advised. "Got it, I'll tell them. Anything else you want me to pass on?" Horseshoe questioned. "Not that I can think of. Hey, before I go, how's the new piece of equipment for me coming?" Roller Brawl asked. "Already finished. You've got the prototype key, just in case, right? Because as of two hours ago, they're as functional as the rest of ours," Horseshoe grinned.

"You've been wanting to say that for the last week, huh?" Roller Brawl grinned. "Hell yeah. You know me too well," Horseshoe smiled. "Well, I am so glad to hear that. It's about time too, Smasher sure took his sweet time,"

"Well, he isn't . . . Pinwheel? We might have a problem," Horseshoe suddenly gulped. "What is it?" Roller Brawl frowned. "I, uh, might have kind of forgotten to scramble the transmission," Horseshoe admitted.

There was a moment of stunned silence. "You WHAT?" Roller Brawl demanded. "Are you telling me that ANYONE in the bloody universe with the right frequency could have heard every word we just said?" she exploded. "Maaaaybe?" Horseshoe gulped. "Cut the connection and get out of there! I don't know where you are, but get out!" Roller Brawl shrieked at Horseshoe, before switching the communicator off and staring at it for a second. "Too dangerous to keep it with me. The Hunters will be tracking it for sure. Why does she talk so much?" the vampire fumed, pulling something from the boxy phone, before dropping it over the edge of the balcony she was leaning on and watching it plummet into the Abyss below. "That's one problem taken care of," Roller Brawl nodded. "Oh, why does this keep happening?" she groaned, skating back into the innards of Winter Keep.

"Hey, you!" Roller Brawl snapped her fingers at a Frost Elf. "Yes, ma'am?" the elf snapped to attention. "Find Cynder. Tell her I've gone to, er, check on the Frost Ancienty, uh," she snapped her fingers, trying to remember, "the big flying dog thing at the top of the mountain," she finally settled for. "Yes ma'am. Will you be needing a ship for that?" the elf politely offered. "Don't worry. I can take care of myself," Roller Brawl snapped. "Just get me a ship and fast!"

X

"Hello, captain?" A night watchman reported in at the start of his evening shift. "Yeah? What is it, newbie?"

"It's the antique. The one from the Great Greeble War," the watchman reported, gazing at the ancient fighter plane suspended within the massive museum room. "What about it?" the captain asked. "It only arrived last week, if there's something dangerous about it we need to know," he urgently commanded. "I don't think it's a threat, just," the watchman paused. "It's headlights have switched themselves on,"

"Copy that. Doesn't seem like a problem, just keep an eye on it. Hey. You only started last week too, just like that old insect plane, eh? Guess it's symbolic that you two stick together. But eh. Have a nice night. My shift's over. See you in the morning, golden boy!"

The watchman stood directly in front of the headlights of the twenty-seven-year-old plane, revealing a lion's face with no fur and golden, armor-like skin, with green eyes glowing in the gloom. "Alright then, sir. I'll see you tomorrow,"

And outside, looking in through a window, someone muttered with a manic grin, "And I'll see you a lot sooner, old friend,"

X - (Totally my fault, but when I wrote the scene last chapter with Spyro and Cynder and Roller Brawl, I forgot that that broke canon as the two Undead elements should be in the West, not the North with Spyro at Winter Keep. This should clear up the plot hole)

The sun set on the Woodburrow horizon, but Cali had other issues. "What? Cynder and Roller Brawl ditched their post at Iron Jaw Gulch so she could hang with her boyfriend? Chop Chop, who gave her permission to pull a stunt like that?" the feline Mabu demanded.

"I did," Chop Chop flatly told her. "Cynder was evidently suffering emotional stress in the absence of her major emotional support pillar. I.E. her boyfriend, Spyro. She would have been more of a detriment than an asset here, so I granted her permission to transfer to the north. Do not attempt to countermand my order. I do not wish to have to pull rank," Chop Chop frowned, and Cali rolled her eyes in irritation. She hated the fact that while the rank-and-file Skylander would take orders from her, the Skylanders who had a statue in the Hall of Legends technically outranked everybody but senior Portal Masters like Master Eon. Even junior Portal Masters like Scott and Loni could take orders from Legendary, or 'L-class' Skylanders. The only reason she was in charge most of the time was because the Skylanders generally trusted her judgment.

And there was nothing she hated more than one of the L-classes pulling rank on her.

Cali sighed. "Fine, whatever. Anything else?"

"No," Chop Chop told her, and hung up.

Cali sighed. "Should I bother calling this in? It's pretty minor, but he does like to know everything that's going on," She paused. "Actually, he can be a bit of a control freak, come to think of it. And just a little scary, a, er, lot scary, but he's a good person. He does what he does to keep Skylands safe," Cali stared into a mirror in her borrowed house, watching the sunset through the window opposite. "Right?"

X

"We got nowhere today," Wash Buckler sighed. "No closer to finding Boom Jet," Stink Bomb agreed. "We really are pathetic, helpless saps," Freeze Blade sighed, and Stink Bomb slapped him. "There are three things a ninja must never do, Freezy. Never reveal yourself, never argue with your sensei's orders and never, ever be pessimistic,"

The three Skylanders were standing by the tiller, Wash Buckler with a hand on the wheel. They were watching the sun set on the horizon.

"I'm not a ninja, you old fart," Freeze Blade snorted. Stink Bomb opened his mouth to retort, but his rear end mhad other ideas, letting out a toot of approval. Wash Buckler guffawed. "He's got you there!"

Stink Bomb groaned and walked away, climbing the stairs to the S.S. REAL MAN's rear roof. It was a flat section with a lifeboat stowed on it above the captain's quarters, and the highest place on the ship other than the crow's nest. Stink Bomb leant over the railing on the end and looked back at the skies they had sailed through. "Nice view." he nodded, gazing at the sunset, before looking down into the abyss.

And when he did, he spotted a rather unwelcome stowaway clinging to the back of the ship. "Oi, Cap'n!"

"What be the problem, matey?" Wash Buckler hollered back to him. "We be having a stowaway!" Stink Bomb called.

Wash Buckler rushed over to where Stink Bomb was. "Where? I don't take kindly to stowaways on board my ship!" he growled. Stink Bomb pointed down to the back of the ship, and Wash Buckler expectantly looked. "Stinky," he said patiently, "Yes, sir?" the ninja replied. "Paper bags are not stowaways," Wash Buckler calmly explained.

Stink Bomb looked down in incredulity. All that he saw was a Cap'n Cluck's King-Sized Chicken paper bag hanging from a nail halfway down the back of the ship. "What - but - there was - but - huh?" he spluttered in disbelief. Wash Buckler looked at him in concern. "Do you need to go lie down?"

X

"Time imps?" Loni frowned, just to check that she had heard right. "Yes. Your Portal of Power was stolen by time imps," Octavius Cloptimus confirmed.

"Pray tell, great wizard, what Is, per se, a time imp?" Igniter queried, gazing up at the Oracle like he was the most amazing thing the knight had ever seen. "Oh, so he calls the, pumped-up, interdimensional soothsayer," she vehemently spat out the word, "a great wizard, but he calls the Portal Master a fair damsel?" Loni growled under her breath. She felt fire building at the base of her throat and hastily swallowed, dousing the flames before they could erupt. "What's wrong with me?" she breathed, sensing the inside of her throat cool and sending a tendril of Life elemental energy through her body to make sure that the flames were gone.

"A time imp is not dissimilar to the greebles of your dimension. They're mostly harmless, but mischievous and extremely annoying. If you dangle a carrot from a stick in front of one of them, they'll eat the carrot, take the stick and beat you with it. I had one as a pet once," Octavius explained.

"Dare I ask what happened?" Warnado nervously gulped. "He tore my testing chambers into pieces, ate the Midochromanian dynasty out of history and bit off one of my eyes. I've only had one ever since," the Oracle nonchalantly explained.

"Dude, what's the Midochromanian dynasty?" Slam Bam frowned. Octavius fixed his unblinking gaze on him and said, "Exactly,"

"Those sound dangerous," Warnado gulped. "Well, they are little more than pests to me. They might, however, pose a significantly greater threat to you. Having your existence torn from the past, present and future is a problem to beings like you, correct?" Octavius asked.

"So, where is the Portal and how do we get it back?" Loni stepped forward, then hastily reared back in order to stay on the platform and decided to ignore the previous sentence. "I will send you there. All that is necessary is for you to make sure that there are no time imps within three feet of the portal. Even for just a second will be enough for me to retrieve the Portal and send it to your reality. Having done that, I will send you all and the Portal to Iron Jaw Gulch just in time to meet your robot friend. Good luck,"

"Wait, what was -" Slam Bam cut himself off as suddenly he, Warnado, Loni and Ignitor weren't with the Oracle anymore. Instead, they were in a cave of some kind made from glowing black energy. They stood in a dead end, and in front of them the cave opened into a huge chamber infested with - things, monsters of all shapes, sizes and descriptions. A thousand or more of these monsters swarmed around an object that was glowing blue and, even as they watched, slowly changing colour to a light purple. "That," the yeti finished. Loni gulped. "Get them all outside of a three-foot radius of the Portal. Easier said than done,"

X

Jet-Vac landed his SkyBike near the Winter Keep, in the docking bay. Electrical spotlights lit up the docks, painting everything in a harsh, clear white light. The frankenstinian craft took up a large portion of the dock.

"Hey! You can't park there!" an angry, yet petite Frost Elf stormed up to him and shouted in his face. Jet-Vac fixed a beady eye on him. "I don't see anywhere else that I can park," he pointed out.

The elf looked around, took a closer look at the SkyBike and realised that it would be incapable of sustaining a mid-air parking spot like all the balloons and airships in his care. "Well, uh, fine! Just don't leave it there for too long! It'll cause congestion!"

Jet-Vac looked up and down the dock and raised an eyebrow at the evident lack of ships on this particular dock. "Congestion. Right," he snorted, clambering off the craft and making to walk back towards the main Keep. "It will happen! Just you watch, Skylander!"

Jet-Vac gritted his teeth and stalked off in irritation. "Again with the Skylander thing! Why do they always just call us Skylander?! Is it so hard to remember our individual names?" he demanded to himself. "I wonder when that girl I met will show up here? Or call me," he paused. "I forgot to give her my number!

X

The night watchman frowned as he heard something creek from the next room over. "Hello?" he called, shining his torch towards the door. "Is there someone there?"

The muffled sounds of giggles were heard. The lion flicked his tail in annoyance. "Bloody kids, think they can mess with me? Well I'm not leaving my post! No matter how much you try to bait me!" he hollered, before glaring up at the plane behind him as if it was its fault.

The headlights flashed, switching off for a second and then straight back on. The watchman jumped, before clutching a paw to his head and shaking it. "Must be seeing things," he moaned. "No more coffee for you, Wildfire,"

Directly behind him, a silhouette leapt from the doorway and rolled behind an old Troll tank. "And my distraction happens in three," he whispered, "two," the figure bared his teeth in a savage grin, "one,"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **The term 'L-class was drawn from Legendary Trigger Happy. Back in Spyro's Adventure, on Legendary Trigger Happy's character card and packaging, 'Legendary Trigger Happy' was too long, so it was abbreviated to 'L-Trigger Happy'. It seemed like some kind of Legendary slang, so I created the term 'L-class', loosely derived from Fairy Tail's 'S-class'. (I know, I know, again with the Fairy Tail, but it's similar things, okay?)**

 **Anyway. Yes, Wildfire the night watchman is in for a treat next chapter. I can promise some good action to make a nice break from the complacency I've called into the last few chapters. Also, can anybody figure out who's breaking into the museum and for what purpose?**

 **And I think I delivered a nice, fat chapter to make up for my three-week absence. Sorry, but I had tech trouble and writer's block and all kinds of stuff and nonsense. -.-**

 **Phoenix, Guest, if you're going to post a review, please ACTUALLY REVIEW THE CHAPTER! Don't use my review section to spam each other! You're clogging up my email!**

 **LiteFox, Maya was a character from the original DC. I had a lot of plans for her, but never really got around to doing any of them. Let's see if that mistake can't be fixed.**

 **Aww, thanks. I like to think I'm good with character nailing. And yes, unfortunately as of right now we have seen the last of Octavius Cloptimus (like my little explanation as to why he only has one eye? XD) but oh well.**

 **Magicanus, that's really none of your business.**

 **Anyways. Peace!**


	20. Tick Tock

**Okay . . . I know it's been, like, AGES since I updated this thing. Life hit me in the ass, plus I heard a rumour that Skylanders was going to be shut down after the sixth game and . . . that just killed my inspiration for anything to do with Skylands, and it took ages to start it up again.**

 **But I'm saying this right now. I'm not done. The announcement of Skylanders: Imaginators has gotten me revved up again, and I** ** _will_** **be back on this site. You can all expect another chapter within a couple of weeks of this.**

 **I just hope at least some of my dedicated followers, LiteFox, Samjax, Sparkbutt, etc, will still be here.**

 **UPDATE: Left that up there for reference; I'm back! New A/N at the bottom!**

Chapter 20: Tick Tock

The loud, audible sound of machinery whirring echoed throughout the museum. "Arkeyan Ultron Unit 641218B online! Assuming local command!" a voice blared. Similar activation noises echoed throughout the machinery, and Wildfire's eyes widened. "What's going on?"

The infiltrator grinned. "This is gonna be so awesome!"

The Arkeyan Copter dangling from a set of chains in mid-air in the corner of the room at an angle suddenly revved to life, it's cockpit lighting up with a blue light and it's engines whirring. It's propellers tried to spin, and immediately got caught, tangling itself and flipping up-side-down. Wildfire jumped in shock, before establishing that it was no threat and calming down. Futilely, the Copter tried to fire it's weapons. Nothing happened. The lion breathed a sigh of relief, the museum curators had thought to strip the Copter of all ammunition. Hopefully they had taken the same precaution for all the other exhibits.

A loud, deep voice suddenly blared through the museum in an emotionless baritone. "Arkeyan Conquertron 02-18 online. Activation sequence commenced,"

The intruder gulped, suddenly worried. "They have a Conquertron in this place? I didn't know that,"

"Oh no!" Wildfire gasped, dashing out of the room, presumably to find and deactivate the Conquertron. The intruder shrugged and grinned, coming out of cover. "Guess it did the job, though,"

He was a tall, four-armed insect, wearing aviator's goggles and jacket with khaki pants. "Alright! Nice to see you, you old beaut!" he grinned up at the old-fashioned plane, before carefully jumping up and climbing onto the wing.

At the other end of the museum, a disembodied Arkeyan Conquertron head, stripped of it's body and utterly powerless, blared on a loop, "Arkeyan Conquertron 02-18 online. Activation sequence commenced. Arkeyan Conquertron 02-18 online. Activation sequence commenced. Arkeyan Conquertron 02-18 online. Activation sequence commenced,"

And, unknown to the insectoid intruder, the only pieces of Arkeyan technology in the museum were the Conquertron head, the weaponless Copter and a single weaponless Ultron. Wildfire had merely dashed two rooms over and barrelled into the Ultron on it's display pedestal, crushing it against the wall and destroying it. "I can't believe it," the night watchman commented in quiet disbelief. "He anticipated every detail of their plan, right down to using the old Arkeyan junk as a distraction," But even as he said this, he was making his way silently back towards the aeronautics room.

The intruder happily climbed back into his old cockpit, looking over the controls and happily noting that everything was in place. "My Buzz Wing is a beaut. Sorry, old girl, but vacation's over. Let's see if you've still got some adventure left in you," he grinned, inserting the key into the ignition and revving up the engines.

But he frowned as the engines died and a voice rang out. "Halt! Thrillipede! You are ranked at number seven on the Blacklist, and in my legal capacity as a Trap Master I hereby place you under arrest!" Wildfire barked out, producing a massive octangular shield made out of some kind of red crystal, adorned with a snarling lion face. "Trap Master? Don't make me laugh!" Thrillipede retorted, frantically trying to restart the engines. "You're the Portal Lord's hunting dogs. At _best_!"

"I am a member of an elite black-ops team of law enforcement. You know that. And because of that, it is my duty to arrest you for crimes against the world of Skylands!" Wildfire barked.

The Buzz Wing's engines suddenly burst forth a flurry of sparks, and Thrillipede cursed. "You aren't going to escape again, renegade scum! I've already disabled the engines," the golden lion gloated. "Surrender and come quietly - what are you doing?"

The pilot had opened up a hatch on the engines and was furiously looking through everything to see what exactly had been done to his plane. "I'm fixing her!" he snapped. "Don't bother. We removed the engine. Our mechanics have _much_ better use for it," Wildfire gloated.

The insect cursed, before something drew his attention. The Arkeyan Copter that was still furiously struggling to free itself on the corner of the room. "Escape," he grinned, leaping from the seat of his plane and pulling a small knife from his pocket -

Suddenly, pain coursed through his body and he collapsed to the ground in a heap. "I truly regret that I had to do that," Wildfire solemnly nodded, pocketing his taser, and binding Thrillipede in handcuffs. "Your move, renegades,"

X

Roller Brawl's phone beeped, she had a text. "What is that strange device?" Dune Bug asked, curious. "My phone," Roller Brawl sceptically told him. She found the scarab beetle a little annoying with his lack of knowledge of modern appliances, like phones and airships and wheels. He had grown up in isolation, so it wasn't really his fault, but she had to draw a line somewhere.

The vampire frowned at the text. "Come And Let Loose at Henrick's Saloon! Unbelievable Prices, Dynamite, Additives, Textiles, Easter Eggs! Urine Samples!" she read.

"That makes no sense," Dune Bug frowned. "Yeah, who would buy urine samples?" Roller Brawl frowned, the gears in her head (metaphorically) turning. 'Call H.S. Update Us,' she decided the message had to mean. "I'm gonna go do a patrol," she told Dune Bug. "Very well. I shall see you at another time," he nodded.

The problem with established routines and times for patrols of areas was that it made it far too easy for people to predict where the Skylanders would be. By doing patrols at absolute random and on impulse, it made villains drastically more cautious. Which was, for the most part, enough to dissuade the average thief from committing a crime in the first place, thereby cutting down a lot of Skylander work.

Roller Brawl reflected on this as she pulled out of the dock. "I guess the system works for a reason,"

The craft was small and unmanned, similar to an aerial rowboat, suspended under a miniature airship gasbagP painted sky blue. Perfect for her needs. As soon as the Skylanders were out of range of earshot, she produced her backup communicator and selected a number on the speed-dial. "Pinwheel calling Hotshot. Come in, Hotshot,"

It didn't take long for her correspondent to reply. "Pinwheel. I was starting to worry," Hotshot responded. "Why? Horseshoe told you we'd been in touch, right?"

"She did, but the world we live in, you never know until you hear someone's voice,for yourself," Hotshot responded, a guarded note creeping into his voice. "Fair enough," Roller Brawl nodded to herself, despite knowing he couldn't see her. "What's Thunderstorm's status?"

"Project TM-BY is complete. I know that's what you care about," Hotshot snorted. "That's not true. I care about Thunderstorm too," Roller Brawl protested. "We all care about each other. There aren't enough of us to not," the unknown voice patronisingly told her. "I know," she solemnly responded, absent-minded oh running her tongue over her fangs.

"Good. Now, what's this about someone in the Cores getting suspicious of us? I already heard from Miasma that we have a potential new recruit to the Renegades,"

"It's Spyro. The leader. He found something in the library that's making him start to get curious," Roller Brawl reported. "Keep an eye out for him. If we've noticed, then they've noticed, and they'll be considering options to keep him quiet," Hotshot intoned. "One way or another,"

Roller Brawl grimly nodded. "I'll keep an eye out,"

"Tell me if you think we need to perform an extraction," Hotshot commanded, and Roller Brawl nodded. "Got it. Anything else?"

"Nope. Quick Step sends his best," The line went dead, and Roller Brawl nodded. "See ya,"

X

The days passed as the eruption grew closer.

Jet-Vac, all thoughts of uncovering the mystery that he had decided was more then likely nothing more than his imagination, waited in hope that the rather attractive woman he had met in the sky would come by.

Roller Brawl stayed on standby, keeping a close eye on Spyro should he discover anything incriminating.

Cynder and Spyro, for their parts, busied themselves with the day-to-day matters or their areas while making regular checks on the Ancient Frosthound as he slowly woke for his duties.

The majority of the other Skylanders spread around Cloudbreak did likewise, their own duties and objectives keeping them busy for the most part.

Meanwhile, the SWAP Force continued their search for the missing Boom Jet, who was, unbeknownst to them, languishing in a cell in the depths of Linagarnix's secret lair. In said lair, Cogshine continued to perfect his device and the Dark Portal Mistress whiled away the waiting time, playing with her pets and wondering where her adoptive son Darkus was.

And in a mysterious otherdimensional plane of reality, Loni and her escort continued to try to work out the best course of action to reclaim the portal.

X

"Chaaaaarge!" Slam Bam commanded, rushing forwards and raising his four arms. He batted away a small gremlin, and continued.

Loni groaned. "Follow him!" she commanded Warnado and Ignitor, who nodded, the flaming knight hefting his axe and charging. "My honour is at stake! I shall defend malady's interests or die in the attempt!" he declared.

Warnado complied with a far less flashy "Got it!"

Ignitor made his debut in the battle by decapitating a rather ugly-looking, fat monster.

He was surprised to see it continue to attack him, unhindered by the loss of its head. "What manner of unholy beast art thou?" the knight demanded in shock, parrying a slash from its razor-sharp claws.

A whirling Warnado punched through its semi-corporeal gut and the knight looked decidedly queasy, seeing the monster's guts spill onto the floor as it collapsed. "Thank you, kind sir," he nodded.

Slam Bam was fending off a monster with each of his four arms and called out. "Guys? A little help here?"

"On it!" Loni shrieked, taking wing and raining down bolts of magical energy on their foes. She landed on the surface of the dormant portal and used her Air magic to blow a swarm of demonic critters from its top. "Over here!"

"A high ground advantage! Congratulations, you have taken the hill!" Ignitor praised, fighting his way to his lady. Warnado joined them, trying to create a tornado around them to prevent their enemies from gaining any ground.

"Cowabunga!" the yeti barked, manifesting a snowboard from ice and smashing it into a monster's head, knocking it backwards. He leapt into the vortex of safety as the portal slowly began to shine.

In an instant, they vanished.

X

"Congratulations," the Oracle praised them, smiling broadly. "You have done it. Now, I shall send you all to Cloudbreak, where MG is waiting for you,"

"Thank you," Loni nodded with a respectful bow.

"Noble mage, you have our deepest gratitude," Ignitor agreed.

"Yeah. You're great," Slam Bam huffed, folding all four of his arms. "Would have been better if you hadn't lost the damn thing in the first place, but still. Go you,"

Octavius frowned, and the four heroes vanished, along with the new Portal.

X

From Loni's perspective, it was instantaneous. She blinked, and suddenly they were no longer in the Oracle's chamber, but in the middle of a plain on Iron Jaw Gulch.

"Wargh!" Slam Bam shrieked as he collapsed to the ground. While Warnado, Loni and Ignitor had all appeared on the ground, the unfortunate yeti had appeared five feet in the air - and upside-down to boot.

As he picked himself up, Warnado chuckled. "That's why you don't make an interdimensional god grumpy," Loni admonished her bodyguard with a chuckle. Slam Bam huffed.

A Dirt Shark dressed in a cowboy suit with a silver star on his lapel strode up to them. "Well, howdy, Skylanders. Name's Wheelock, and I'm the Sheriff in these parts. Your robot friend told us we should be expecting you. But ain't y'all kinda late?"

Ignitor frowned, "Privy, kind sir. What do you mean, late?"

"It's just, your robot arrived last week," Wheelock frowned. "He said you'd arrive within a day or two, but that was several days ago,"

Loni stood up straight - as straight as a quadruped being could be, at least. "What? What day is it?"

"Why, it's the twenty-sixth of the ninth. Two days before the eruption," the sheriff told her.

Loni blinked, a growl rising in the base of her throat.

"BLAST THAT ORACLE!"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **So, update in a couple of weeks, huh? . . . so much for that. {facepalms} God, I am so sorry that it took me so long to get off my ass and finish this chapter. School's been ramping up the difficulty now that I'm getting ready for VCE, plus I've been turning a lot of my energies to working on my original novel;** ** _Ghostwriter_** **. I guess . . Dragon Chronicles just hit the back burner for a while. -.-**

 **Still, I refuse to give up. I am bringing this fic and possibly other Skylanders works back as a major contender on this archive. I was before, and I will be again. I'm not giving up on this . . I just hope all my favourite reviewers are willing to do the same.**

 **Let's see . . .**

 **Fanboy, you single-handedly turned my review system into a guest flame war argument. That invalidates you.**

 **LiteFox, I know it's been ages, but I really hope you're still reading this.**

 **Sparkbutt, you are too smart for your own good and at least partially wrong.**

 **Peace!**


	21. Boom, Boom, Boom

Chapter 21: Boom, Boom, Boom

"Weigh anchor, matey!" Wash Buckler commanded, brandishing his sword at Magna Charge.

"I do not believe that that is possible. My magnetic wheel is not capable of gaining enough friction to maintain a hold on a chain such as this," Magna Charge responded, holding up the coiled chain near the anchor and casting a questioning look at Wash Buckler.

"Quit yar bellyachin' and throw that anchor like a real man!" Doom Stone commanded, effortlessly snatching up the cast-iron anchor and tossing it overboard. The chain that Magna Charge was still holding suddenly went taut and jerked him off his wheel, pulling the unfortunate Swaplander overboard before he had a chance to let go.

Wash Buckler winced, hearing Magna Charge's echoing scream as he fell. Freeze Blade dashed to the side. "Don't let go of the anchor!" he 'helpfully' shouted at his falling teammate.

"I will keep that in miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind!" the robot called back up at them. Eventually all the slack ran out, and the anchor jerked to a halt. Wash Buckler drew breath to order Boom Jet to fly down and pick him up, then remembered. "Oh yeah," he sighed through tentacled lips.

And, after all, that was why they were here, wasn't it? He stared at the island they had docked nearby, the imposing black mountain that contained Linagarnix' subterranean base. A hundred years ago, it had been from here that she conducted her illegal operations. Perhaps, a century later, she still did.

"Tighten our course, midshipman!" he commanded, glaring at Grilla Drilla, who manned the tiller. "Quartermaster, prepare!" he commanded of Hoot Loop, and the owl saluted, poofing away. "Get to singing that shanty, ship drunkard!" he commanded, gesturing to an irritated Spy Rise. "Why am I the ship drunkard? I am the only person on this team who has never touched a drop of alcohol in his life!" the unfortunate Spyder barked.

"Because your first name rhymes with 'pie'," the captain told him as though that made perfect sense, before wheeling to glare at the rest of the crew. "Look sharp, the rest of you layabouts! We be preparing to launch our assault upon the Isle of the Ill-Fated!" In an instant, he wheeled and turned to Spy Rise once more. "What did I say about that shanty?"

He sighed and pressed a brassed hand to his throat. "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me. Yo ho, yo ho, away on yonder sea,"

"Excellent!" Wash nodded, firing his pistol into the air. A large bubble popped out, and he cursed. "Sometimes I wish I had a gun that made noise,"

He tilted his head upwards and stared up at the crow's nest. "Free Ranger! Any sign of offensive assailants?"

"I'll give you offensive and assailing," Spy Rise huffed.

"Negative, Cap'n!" Free Ranger hollered from the top of the mast.

"Stay on guard, men! Be ready for anything!" Wash Buckler commanded.

Freeze Blade saluted with a frosty chakra. "Aye, captain! I shall prepare to battle a giant cow armed with exploding ketchup cupcakes!" he grinned.

"You do that, cabin's boy! You do that!" Wash Buckler nodded.

There was a ruckus from somewhere below the ship, and Magna Charge's woozy voice echoed from below decks. "Land hooooooo,"

"Now, everyone! Charge!" Wash Buckler declared. "Take no prisoners!"

As one, the eager Swaplanders charged to the sides of the S.S. REAL MAN, Free Ranger twirling down from the crow's nest and Grilla abandoning his position at the tiller - and paused. "Er, captain?" Fire Kraken asked.

"What's the hold-up?" Wash Buckler demanded.

"We're still fifty feet in the air," Fire Kraken pointed out.

The mermasquid elbowed his way through his teammates and irritably peered over the side. A couple of hundred metres below him, the crystals in the blackened ground cheerfully twinkled.

Wash Buckler snorted in irritation. "Bring her about, men. We're gonna try this one again,"

X

"Good news, sir!" Glumshanks declared, bursting into Kaos' throne room.

"The latest edition of Minions Monthly has arrived?" the Dark Portal Master asked in excitement.

"Uh, no, but it's even better," the butler attempted. "The engineers are done with the rocket!"

"Oh, that is good," Kaos nodded, dropping One Hundred Legends of Skylands onto his throne as he stood up. "Fascinating book, that. Gives me so many evil ideas - as a matter of fact, on second thought -" He whirled, snatched it up and stuffed it into his dress. "Now, Glumshanks! To the rocket!"

"Yes, master," the troll sighed.

X

"Now this is a rocket worth beholding!" Kaos crowed, gazing up at the great silver machine his trolls had created. "As a matter of fact," he smiled to himself, before clutching his throat. "Testing, testing, doh ray me fah so la tea doh. BEHOLD!"

"Very good, master," Glumshanks dryly applauded.

"You!" Kaos barked at a random nearby troll. "Is it ready?"

The troll in question, who was wearing a golden mask and had an odd contraption strapped to his back, wheeled and nodded. "You bet it is, master Kaos! If that rocket won't get you up to the Skyhighlands, my name isn't Threatpack!"

"Eh?" the Dark Portal Master blinked. "I thought your name was er, Professor Nitrius, uh, Neo, er,"

"Nilbog, sir. But Threatpack is fine, sir," the troll supplied. "Now, to the rocket!"

"Quite so! To the rocket!" Kaos agreed with a grin, charging towards the launching tower set next to the rocket.

"Uh, you're coming, master? In person?" his butler asked in surprise. "Wouldn't it be safer to stay down here?"

"Nonsense, Glumshanks. My plans have a bad habit of failing if I'm not there to oversee them in person. Therefore, I am of course coming to ensure the success in acquiring this laser from those dreadful sky pirates," Kaos exclaimed. "Then, we can use their magical laser pointer to find the legendary Cloudcracker Prison and release every evil villain in history from it, who will, of course, all be so grateful to me that they will all bow down and obey me, becoming my army of supervillains!"

"Yes, yes, thank you for the recap. Now, we really ought to get on board," Threatpack suggested, and the Dark Portal Master nodded. "Yes, yes, of course. Onwards and upwards!"

"Unfortunately, due to how far away the Skyhighlands is, even if we blast off now, we won't actually get there until tomorrow," Threatpack admitted with a shrug.

"What? Oh, poop," Kaos cursed.

X

The dawn shone on the frozen ramparts of Winter Keep. In his toasty warm bedroom, Spyro rose and stretched, enjoying the warm light shining through the window. He rubbed his horns with a hind leg, relieving an itch, and flexed his wings. "Good morning, Skylands,"

He swung his door open and immediately bumped into a familiar vampiress. "Morning, Roller," he courteously nodded. "What brings you . ." he paused. "Outside my room?"

"Oh, not you," Roller Brawl responded, before realising how rude it sounded and blustering apologetically. "I mean, uh - not that you aren't worth waiting outside the room of, just, the window in the corridor here has the best view of the sunrise,"

The purple dragon had heard about Roller Brawl's love of sunrises from his girlfriend, and nodded. "Why of you do that, anyway?" Spyro asked, curious.

In response, she gestured him towards the window opposite his room. "Look at it. Every morning, when the sun rises from beneath the clouds, it brings a new day to life. The sunrise reminds me that there's always a brighter tomorrow, always some hope and wonder to look forward to. It's why I wanted to be a Skylander. I wanted to be part of the group that was responsible for so much of the hope and joy in Skylands,"

"Sounds like a good reason to me," Spyro nodded, perching on the windowsill and watching the orange light spread across the sky.

"Big day tomorrow," Roller Brawl commented.

"Yup. The Volcano's finally gonna erupt. It's so exciting! It might not even happen again within our lifetime," the dragon glossed.

He spotted Roller Brawl's baleful glare. "Uh, I mean, you'll see plenty, being unageing and all, but, you know what I mean," he protested. The skater snorted, but nodded.

"Di you think I'm gonna be good enough?" she suddenly asked. "To be a good Skylander, I mean,"

Spyro affably smiled. "Well, you might never be Spyro the Dragon, but I think you'll do fine,"

Roller Brawl rolled her eyes, but nodded. "Anyway. Time for my morning workout. See ya later!" And with that, she skated away, among towards the stairs.

The purple dragon paused, and looked back at the sunrise. "She's right. It is pretty cool," he nodded, before turning to leave.

In the shadows of his room, a hooded figure watched him depart, seeing through the walls. Enigma swung his long, bladed weapon absent-mindedly, and shifted his focus other Skylander he was spying on. Roller Brawl was far more interesting than Spyro, and he felt that he would gain much more from watching her than he would from the leader of the Cores . . . but his duty was to observe Spyro, not his girlfriend's protégée.

Enigma drove his Traptanium sceptre into the ground and softly commanded, "Out of Sight," With a flicker, he vanished into the Ghost World to keep an eye on Spyro from a layer of reality that he could never be detected from. There was only one other Enigma knew of who could appear in both the mortal and Ghost Worlds as he could, and he was far away indeed. Probably.

Hopefully.

X

Jet-Vac, who had been busy touching up his SkyBike at the docks, looked up in excitement at the familiar sound of jet engines. "Could it be?" he blinked, excited.

Sure enough, the Sky Slicer docked nearby, and Stormblade emerged with a grin. "Hey. Sorry it took so long to get back, I've been, ah, busy," she shrugged, approaching her friend. "I see you're getting serious about that thing," the female Sky Baron commented, looking st the SkyBike.

Gone was the rust and dirt. Jet-Vac had polished, re-plated and painted every inch, with cyan and white and hints of gold. "Yeah. It's been kind of fun, having a hobby, eheheheh," he awkwardly chuckled.

"Well, no offence, but you're kind of an amateur when it comes to bodywork," Stormblade offered her constructive criticism. "But not to worry. I know a guy who can get that bike from okay to totally awesome," she offered, gunning her plane's engine. "Follow me,"

"Yes ma'am!" Jet-Vac smiled. Not only was he going to get to spend time with the beautiful Sky Baroness, he could get his new set of wings fixed up! Win-win!

X

Wash Buckler squinted. "Can anyone find a light switch, me hearties? I be unable to see!"

"We're not on the bloody pirate ship anymore, you can drop the stupid accent!" Spy Rise shouted from somewhere not too far away.

The SWAP Force had split up upon entering Linagarnix' old lair, simply because it was so vast and they could all function fine in teams of two.

After Wash Buckler had shot down Hoot Loop's suggestion that he could teleport fast enough to effectively be in two places at once, he decided to grant Spy Rise his wish and let him work alone.

The Spyder seemed oddly unenthusiastic about being alone in a place with low illumination, riddled with booby-traps, puddles of toxic sludge and the Ancients knew what other leftover horrors that Linagarnix had left lying around. Funny thing, that.

"So, hombre, what exactly are we looking for?" Rattle Shake, Wash Buckler's teammate, asked.

"Well, this place obviously isn't in use, so I'd say some clue as to where mamma's boy's mamma is doing her evil these days. A forwarding address or something?" the Mermasquid shrugged.

"So, you have no clue," the serpent surmised.

"Well, investigating the Adventurer's Guild was a bust, and so was trying to track down that Snap Shot person Spy Rise met. Unless we want to try looking for the lady running the puppet show Freeze Blade mentioned seeing on their mission, this is our last shot," Wash Buckler huffed.

"Do you think that looking for the puppet lady will get us anywhere?" Rattle Shake questioned.

Wash Buckler's exhausted, patienceless glare said everything. "Do you think some random lady with a pile of ugly puppets can tell us anything of note?" he asked.

"My friend, what is the matter? The Wash Buckler I know would never be so defeated," Rattle Shake asked, wrapping an arm around his teammate'a shoulders.

"We've been looking for nine days and nothing. Not even a whisker of a clue," the leader sighed. "Every trail leads to nowhere, every track goes in circles, and if Freeze Blade eats one more helping of Cap'n Cluck's he's gonna pop!"

"I resent that!" Freeze Blade shouted from somewhere in the complex.

"My friend, don't worry. We are all tired and stressed. But have faith. We will find our brother, and everything will be back to normal once again," Rattle Shake reassured his friend.

"Thanks," Wash Buckler nodded.

They both froze as a deep, echoing roar emerged from the tunnels in front of them. "I suppose you do not think that was our hombre Grilla's stomach, do you?" Rattle Shake asked.

"I know that sound. Let's go," the pirate growled, docking his gun and dashing towards it.

"Maybe this is why Boom Jet got captured. We all have a horrible habit of running towards danger, instead of away from it," the snake bemoaned, but followed his teammate regardless.

The two emerged into a vast chamber, filled with the mangled and broken remains of several cages. "That smell, I know it," Rattle Shake hissed, tasting the air with his tongue.

"If you farted, keep it to yourself," Wash Buckler autonomously responded. It was his go-to phrase for whenever any of his teammates brought up smells.

"Not that kind of smell!" the snake retorted. "I smell . . . evil. Evil with a long, sinuous body and stubby little arms,"

Wash Buckler paled. "What? No way, they all died in the last Cloudbreak Eruption! There can't possibly be any left!"

The two SWAPlanders, immediately realising the danger they were in, instantly assumed a back-to-back position, both readying their guns.

There was a crackling sound from one of the corners of the debris-littered room, and Wash Buckler flinched towards it, aiming with shaking hands.

There was silence for a moment longer, and then a large, metal box tumbled down from a pile. It fell in front of the door that they had entered through, blocking their exit. Rattle Shake, who had watched this, gulped. This was bad.

"What was that?" Wash demanded, wanting desperately to look, but knowing that doing so would give their adversary an opening. "Amigo, hombre, we are trapped," Rattle Shake gulped.

There was another noise, and Rattle Shake turned towards it. The mini-snake within his gun quivered in fear.

"Rattle Shake?" Wash Bucker asked.

"Si, hombre?"

"If . . . we don't make it out of here," Wash Buckler gulped, "I just want you to know that -"

"Hush, hombre. Your words, they say it all without needing anything to be said," Rattle Shake nodded. "I feel the same,"

There was a tumultuous uproar in Wash Buckler's direction, ad the Mermasquid gulped. Rattle Shake decided this was worth breaking the rule, and turned to look.

Looking down on them, rising up from the piles of clutter in the room, was an elderly, angry-looking Fire Viper. Its yellow eyes glared down at them in fury, as though considering how best to kill them for intruding on its territory.

"Hombre, if we die today, we die fighting, si?" the sheriff suggested.

"Si," Wash Buckler agreed. "Wait, that does mean yes, right?" he paused, seeking confirmation.

In response, Rattle Shake cocked his gun, aiming it at a spot between his adversary's eyes. "Go ahead, amigo. Snake my day,"

A/N

 **A/N**

 **So, my word of the day is 'affably'. XD Seriously, I wish I'd learnt it sooner.**

 **And I know, the update took ages. It's hard to write for Skylanders with the rumours going around that it might be cancelled. Plus, I've been focusing mainly on my original novels, so, there's that.**

 **Thanks, Jayla. I really appreciate that. ^^**

 **Fanboy . . I don't really know what to say, and what I do know isn't something I wanna say here. If you're still interested, PM me. If not . . . yeah. :(**

 **Peace, I guess.**


End file.
